Herpes’ commute into nervous system is aided by a sinister trick.
- Scientists discover how herpes kidnaps protein to infect nervous system
- Opens a door to long-needed HSV1 and HSV2 vaccine
- More than half of U.S. adults are carriers of herpes HSV1
- Virus can cause blindness, life-threatening encephalitis and may contribute to dementia
Herpes type 1 is sealed with a kiss for a lifetime. More than half of U.S. adults are carriers of HSV1 (herpes simplex virus type 1) which hibernates in the peripheral nervous system and can never be eradicated.
A new Northwestern Medicine study published in Nature has uncovered the virus’s sneaky strategy for infecting the nervous system, opening a path to long-needed vaccine development for both HSV1 and its close sibling HSV2.
Some carriers will never even experience so much as a cold sore from HSV1. But for others, it can cause blindness or life-threatening encephalitis. There is increasing evidence it contributes to dementia.
And HSV2, which is more commonly transmitted via sexual contact, can be passed from a mother to newborn during the birthing process as neonatal herpes, appearing as lesions all over the body of the infant. Most babies recover, but in the worst cases, it can cause brain damage or disseminate through all the organs and be lethal.
“We desperately need a vaccine to prevent herpes from invading the nervous system,” said Gregory Smith, PhD, professor of Microbiology-Immunology.
The new study from Smith’s lab has uncovered a route to that. The study discovered how herpes kidnaps a protein from epithelial cells and turns it into a defector to help it travel into the peripheral nervous system. They have termed the process “assimilation.” It’s a discovery that may have wide-ranging implications for many viruses, including HIV and (function(d, s, id){
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.6";
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
Read original article here