Vaccine for cytomegalovirus

DETAILED DESCRIPTION What is claimed is: 1.
A method for vaccinating a susceptible host to confer humoral immunity to human cytomegalovirus (hCMV), said method comprising inoculating the host with a polypeptide having immunological activity cross-reactive with that of glycoprotein A of cytomegalovirus and having substantially the same sequence as naturally-occurring glycoprotein A, said polypeptide being present in a physiologically-acceptable carrier in an amount effective to elicit viral neutralizing activity against the cytomegalovirus.
2.
A method as in claim 1, wherein the glycoprotein A is isolated from hCMV-infected cells.
3.
A method as in claim 1, wherein the glycoprotein A is isolated by extraction in a non-ionic detergent followed by adsorption in an immunoaffinity column.
4.
A method as in claim 1, wherein the glycoprotein A is a mixture of different antigenically related forms having varying amounts of glycosylation and different electrophoretic properties.
5.
A vaccine against human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) infection, said vaccine comprising a polypeptide having immunological activity cross-reactive with glycoprotein A of the cytomegalovirus and having substantially the same sequence as naturally-occurring glycoprotein A, said polypeptide being present in an immunologically acceptable carrier in an amount effective to elicit viral neutralizing activity against cytomegalovirus when administered to a susceptible host.
6.
A vaccine as in claim 5, wherein the glycoprotein A is isolated from hCMV-infected cells.
7.
A vaccine as in claim 6, wherein the glycoprotein A is isolated by extraction in a non-ionic detergent followed by adsorption to an affinity column.
8.
A vaccine as in claim 5, wherein the glycoprotein A is a mixture of different antigenically related forms having varying amounts of glycosylation and different electrophoretic properties.




Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1.
Field of the Invention Vaccination against both bacterial and viral diseases has been one of the major accomplishments of medicine over the past century