Virus

Cytomegalovirus

Antibody response

Biology

Antibody

Virology

Vaccination

Herpesviridae

Immunology

Viremia

Viral disease

Neutralizing antibody

Human cytomegalovirus

Medicine

Immune system

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance Conventionally, vaccines are screened for induction of a neutralizing antibody response in human volunteers before proceeding to late-stage clinical trials. We present results from a human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) challenge study suggesting that this paradigm may not apply universally to all viruses. Instead, viruses like HCMV, which establish lifelong infections and grow both cell-free and cell-associated, may be controlled independently of a potent neutralizing antibody response. Our results suggest that more detailed laboratory studies are required to identify correlates of immune protection for such viruses and that failure of a vaccine to induce a neutralizing antibody response should not necessarily be considered as a key go-no-go decision point in the design of future vaccine studies.

Protection from cytomegalovirus viremia following glycoprotein B vaccination is not dependent on neutralizing antibodies