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Tuesday September 30 9:02 AM EDT
Company Press Release
CEL-SCI Corporation's Herpes Simplex Vaccine
Protects Mice Against Herpes Infection
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- CEL-SCI CORPORATION (Amex:HIV)
today announced that Dr. Ken Rosenthal of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of
Medicine, Rootstown, Ohio, presented results at the 37th Interscience Conference on
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Toronto, Canada, showing that CEL-SCI's herpes
simplex vaccine protects against herpes infection in mice. The immunizations allowed the mice
to resolve the infection quicker and more effectively resulting in minimal symptoms and
mortality.
The vaccine is based upon CEL-SCI's patented L.E.A.P.S.(TM) (Ligand Epitope Antigen
Presentation System) technology. It consists of two protein pieces (peptides). The first one is a
copy of a portion of the herpes simplex virus against which the human immune system
generates a response and the second one is a T-cell binding ligand, which stimulates and
directs the immune response. The combination of these two peptides is called the herpes
simplex L.E.A.P.S. vaccine.
In the past, some vaccines have worked simply by vaccination with viral proteins (e.g. hepatitis
B) to immunize patients. In the case of herpes simplex, that strategy has yet to be proven
successful. The purpose of adding the T-cell binding ligand was to increase the effectiveness of
the vaccine by directing the immune response to react in the way most likely to eliminate or
control the disease agent. To test this hypothesis in herpes simplex, the researchers not only
administered the vaccine with a T-cell binding ligand to direct the immune response to the
cellular side (thought to be protective), but they also administered a vaccine using a different
T-cell binding ligand to direct the immune response to the humoral (antibody) side (thought to
be non-protective). For both vaccines, the herpes simplex peptide was kept the same.
RESULT: The vaccine inducing a cellular immune response was protective while the vaccine
inducing a humoral (antibody) immune response was not protective and actually accelerated
disease progression.
Daniel Zimmerman, inventor of the L.E.A.P.S. technology and Vice President of Research,
Cellular Immunology at CEL-SCI Corporation says, ``The T-cell binding ligands may allow us
to bring drug design to vaccines. We are now working to further improve the herpes simplex
vaccine and to apply our new knowledge to other vaccines against cancer and infectious
diseases.''
Herpes simplex virus type 1 and its close cousin, herpes simplex virus type 2, cause the
common cold sore found near the lips and also genital herpes. Herpes simplex virus can also
cause serious disease upon infection of the eye, the brain or an individual who is
immunosuppressed such as a newborn baby, AIDS patient or transplant patient. Unlike many
viruses, once an individual is infected with herpes simplex virus, the virus remains and can be
reactivated by stress or immunosuppression and cause recurrent disease. There are an
estimated 40 to 60 million Americans who are infected with herpes simplex virus and
approximately 600,000 new cases occurring per year. A successful herpes simplex virus
vaccine would prevent initial infection and may also be useful as a treatment for individuals who
suffer from frequent recurrent disease.
CEL-SCI Corporation is a pioneer in the field of natural immunotherapy. The Company is
developing immune based treatments for cancer, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and herpes
simplex.
``CEL-SCI press releases are available through Company News On-Call by fax,
800-758-5804, Ext. 445563, or at prnewswire.com on the Internet.''
When used in this report, the words ``intend,'' ``believes,'' ``anticipated'' and ``expects'' and
similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from
those projected. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, an inability
to duplicate the clinic results demonstrated in preclinical studies, timely development of any
potential products that can be shown to be safe and effective, receiving necessary regulatory
approvals, difficulties in manufacturing any of the Company's potential products and the risk
factors set forth from time to time in CEL-SCI Corporation's SEC filings, including but not
limited to its report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 1996. The Company
undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision to these forward-looking
statements which may be made to reflect the events or circumstances after the date hereof or
to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
SOURCE CEL-SCI Corporation
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