Alpha herpes simplex viruses are an important public health problem affecting all age groups. It can produce from common cold sores and chicken pox to severe conditions like encephalitis or newborn mortality. Although all three subtypes of alpha herpes viruses have a similar structure, the produced pathology differs, and at the same time, the available prevention measures, such as vaccination. While there is an available and efficient vaccine for the varicella-zoster virus, for herpes simplex virus 1 and 2, after multiple approaches from trivalent subunit vaccine to next-generation live-attenuated virus vaccines and bioinformatic studies, there is still no vaccine available. Although there are multiple failed approaches in present studies, there are also a few promising attempts; for example, the trivalent vaccine containing herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) glycoproteins C, D, and E (gC2, gD2, gE2) produced in baculovirus was able to protect guinea pigs against vaginal infection and proved to cross-protect against HSV-1. Another promising vaccine is the multivalent DNA vaccine, SL-V20, tested in a mouse model, which lowered the clinical signs of infection and produced efficient viral eradication against vaginal HSV-2. Promising approaches have emerged after the COVID-19 pandemic, and a possible nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine could be the next step. All the approaches until now have not led to a successful vaccine that could be easy to administer and, at the same time, offer antibodies for a long period.
Keywords: HSV; VZV; immunity; vaccine.