Discovery may one day lead to herpes vaccine

Understanding specialized cells could be key to preventing genital herpes, researchers say A specialized kind of immune cell that patrols the skin of people infected with the herpes virus appears to prevent the outbreak of painful sores, a new study suggests. Researchers think the cells may be key to developing a potential vaccine against genital herpes, which afflicts more than 24 million people in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the study, published online May 8 in the journal Nature, researchers took skin samples from people infected with HSV-2, the virus that causes genital herpes, and followed them as they healed from recent outbreaks. Working with a high-powered microscope, researchers used fluorescent stains to find and label different types of immune cells in the skin. They were most interested in cells called CD8 killer T-cells. Unlike antibodies, which bind to bacteria and viruses, preventing them from infecting...