Grant: Operating Grant

Genital herpes is a major health problem. An estimated one in four sexually active adults has actve or inactive genital herpes infection. For some time now, it is known that menstrual cycle of women can influence susceptibility to STDs and disease severity. Clinical studies also show that use of oral contraceptives and other hormonal contraceptives such as Depo-Provera by women correlate with increased chance of getting STI infections, including HIV, HSV-2, Chlamydia. Our previous research has shown that sex hormones control both susceptibility and immune responses to sexually transmitted infections including chlamydia and HSV-2. We recently reported that female mice treated with estradiol were protected from herpes infection while progesterone treated mice had severe genital herpes and inflammation. In the current study, we propose to understand how the hormonal environment in the reproductive tract affects immunity to hereps infection in this mouse model. We will study how certain hormones can affect body's defence mechanism in a certain way resulting in better or worse protection. We will also examine how local environment in the genital tract affects body's protective mechanisms. These studies will help us understand how hormones affect ability of females to defend against sexually transmitte infections. This information will be useful particulaly for women who are on hormonal contraceptives on hormone replacement therapies. It will also help us to understand how we can make use of natural hormones to make better vaccine against herpes, targeted specifically for women.