Topical treatment of cutaneous herpes simplex virus infection in hairless mice with (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine and related compounds

(E)-5-(2-Bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (bromovinyldeoxyuridine) was found to suppress the development of herpetic skin lesions and the paralysis and mortality associated therewith in hairless mice inoculated intracutaneously with herpes simplex virus type 1. This protective effect was achieved with bromovinyldeoxyuridine applied topically at 1, 3, or 10% in either dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), Beeler base, Tween-glycerol-water, 5% Azone (1-dodecylazacycloheptan-2-one) in water, or 5% Azone in DMSO. The optimal vehicle was 5% Azone in DMSO, in which bromovinyldeoxyuridine was effective even at a concentration as low as 0.3%. In its protective activity against cutaneous herpes simplex virus type 1 infection in hairless mice, bromovinyldeoxyuridine was clearly superior to other established antiherpes compounds such as 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine, 5-ethyl-2'-deoxyuridine, arabinosyl thymine, and arabinosyl (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl) uracil when formulated at 10% in DMSO or Azone-DMSO. However, no activity was noted with any of these drug formulations against cutaneous herpes simplex virus type 2 infection. In contrast, acycloguanosine (acyclovir) proved quite effective in the topical treatment of cutaneous herpes simplex virus type 2 infection when used at 10% in DMSO or at 5% in propylene glycol.