Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a significant human pathogen. While HCMV infection does not produce disease in the majority of cases, major problems may develop from congenital infections or in immunocompromised individuals. It is estimated that the cost of vaccine preventable HCMV disease is greater than 800 million dollars annually. Syntro Corporation, using recombinant DNA technology, has developed proprietary attenuated herpes viruses for the animal health industry which in animal trials do not produce detectable stress or pathology, yet induce an immune response which approaches that of an infection by wild-type virus. This technology can now be applied to the attenuation of HCMV in order to produce a safe and effective live viral vaccine candidate. Phase 1 studies will result in the development of an efficient transfection system for HCMV including the production of genomic and purified subgenomic fragments of HCMV DNA. After the appropriate deletions and insertions of marker antigens into selected fragments, Syntro will be positioned to construct a recombinant HCMV with potential as an attenuated vaccine in a Phase 2 study. The commercial production of safe and effective HCMV vaccine will be of great benefit in reducing the disease symptoms of HCMV infection.
