To prevent bouts of cold sores, blindness and potentially lethal encephalitis, the stealthy HSV-1 virus is kept under constant guard by the immune system, say University of Pittsburgh scientists, challenging the once common notion that latent HSV-1 in sensory neurons is invisible to the immune system.
According to Robert L. Hendricks Ph.D., Joseph F. Novak professor and vice-chair for research in the Department of Ophthalmology and professor in the Departments of Immunology and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. the immune cells keep the infection under close surveillance, actively holding HSV-1 in check without destroying the neurons harboring it. Sensory neurons may not regenerate, so an immune system attack that destroys them could do more harm than good.
In a paper published in the October 10 issue of Science, teams led by Dr. Hendricks and Paul R. Kinchington, Ph.D., show one way this balancing act is carried out.
Keeping herpes infection in check: Pitt researchers describe immune system strategies
