The immune response to glycoproteins of herpes simplex virus

Herpes simplex virus commonly causes 'cold sores', the virus often becoming latent after the primary infection and recrudescing at intervals. Six glycoproteins have been described in the virion and in the membranes of infected cells; much of the host's immune response is directed against these molecules. The functions of individual glycoproteins in the disease process and in the induction of different components of the immune response are beginning to be unravelled, which should help provide a strategy for the creation of an effective subunit vaccine against the virus.