Failure to induce cervical cancer in mice by long‐term frequent vaginal exposure to live or inactivated herpes simplex viruses

C57 mice aged 8–10 weeks in groups of 50 each received vaginal cotton pellets soaked in lysates of HEp‐ 2 cells, either mock‐infected or infected with herpes simplex virus I, herpes simplex virus 2, and highly attenuated recombinant viruses 5 times a week for 89 to 114 weeks. An untreated group was also included. The mock‐infected and some of the infected cell lysates were exposed to ultraviolet light at a dose sufficient to inactivate virus. Smears of exfoliated vaginal cells collected once a month and histopathologic sections of genital organs removed at autopsy were coded and examined blind for the presence of abnormal cells indicative of malignant changes and cervical cancer, respectively. Sera collected before termination of the study were tested blind for the presence of antibody to infected cell lysates and to purified herpes simplex virus glycoprotein B. The results were as follows: (i) Over 74% of 826 mice examined at autopsy contained tumors at non‐genital sites. The tumors were randomly distributed among the various groups, (ii) Gross genital abnormalities were less common in untreated animals than in mice receiving vaginal implants, (iii) The fraction of mice which developed cervical cancer diagnosed by histopathologic examination was small (7.2%) and not significantly different among various groups, (iv) There was no correlation between the presence of abnormal exfoliated cells indicative of early invasive or invasive cancer lesions and the histopathologically proven diagnosis of micro‐invasive or invasive cervical cancer, (v) The incidence and levels of antibody were highest in animals exposed to live virus; some mice exposed to inactivated virus also developed weak or moderately high antibody levels. The presence of antibodies did not correlate with the presence of histopathologically proven cervical cancer. The results do not support the ability of herpes simplex viruses to cause genital neoplasia in mice.