Herpes simplex virus-based vectors

Herpes simplex virus (HSV)-based vectors have primarily been developed for neuronal gene delivery, taking advantage of the virus' natural neurotropism. Two types of vector are available: replication defective viruses, whose cytotoxicity has been abolished by deleting viral gene products, and amplicon vectors, which are plasmids packaged into HSV particles with the aid of a helper virus. In this review I discuss how the cytotoxicity of the wild-type virus has been abolished, the progress which has been made toward defining promoter elements capable of directing long-term transgene expression form the latent viral genome and some of the potential clinical uses of these versatile vectors.