Human Gamma Herpes Virus DNA Vaccines

This project is designed to develop a DNA vaccine against human gamma herpesviruses: Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV).

EBV, the gamma-1 virus, or human herpesvirus 4 (HHV-4) has been known since the 1960s and is an accepted pathogen in infectious mononucleosis, certain lymphomas, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, some gastric carcinomas, some Hodgkin’s disease, and the oral leukoplakia found in profound immunodeficiency and AIDS. Our emphasis will be to generate vaccines against the latent phase of EBV infection.

KSHV, a gamma-2 human herpesvirus or HHV-8, has only been known since 1994. In addition to causing Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), KSHV shares the B-cell tropism also found in EBV and characteristic for gamma herpesviruses. This is evidenced by KSHV presence in two lymphoproliferative disorders: primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) (3) and multifocal Castle­man’s disease (MCD). Important to this proposal, some PEL cell lines from AIDS patients harbor both EBV and KSHV, further justifying a joint analysis of both viruses. Given their close evolutionary relationships, both viruses are expected to have related mechanisms of pathogenesis. This justifies a joint project.