US Patent 7223411 Herpesvirus replication defective mutants

A herpesvirus vaccine comprising a mutated herpesvirus suspended in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The mutated herpesvirus is capable of infecting cells of the mammal to be vaccinated, but incapable of completing a replicative cycle, and it is capable of eliciting a protective immune response in that mammal. The mutated herpesvirus is also capable of treating immunomodulatory or immunoregulatory diseases. The mutation occurs in at least one gene encoding a protein essential for replication of the virus, so that the mutation renders the virus replication defective.