Progress on pursuit of human cytomegalovirus vaccines for prevention of congenital infection and disease

Highlight • An effective vaccine for prevention of congenital HCMV infection is of high medical significance. • Previous candidates of modified virus vaccines or individual antigen vaccines were of moderate efficacy. • A pentameric gH complex is missing in vaccine composition in all previous candidates. • This pentameric complex is the key antigen for potent neutralizing antibodies. • Implications of this complex in HCMV vaccine design are reviewed.