WASHINGTON: US researchers reported
that they may have found a way to flush out herpes viruses from hiding —
offering a potential way to cure pesky and painful conditions from cold sores to
shingles.
They discovered that a mysterious gene carried by the
herpes simplex-1 virus — the one that causes cold sores — allows the
virus to lay low in the nerves it infects.
It does so via microRNAs,
little pieces of genetic material that regulate the activity of many viruses,
the researchers report in the journal Nature.
It may be possible to
"wake up" the virus and then kill it with standard antiviral drugs such as
acyclovir, said Jennifer Lin Umbach of Duke University in North Carolina, who
worked on the study. "We are trying to go into animal trials," Umbach
said.
The Duke team is discussing a potential collaboration with
Regulus Therapeutics LLC, a joint venture between Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc
and Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc that specializes in microRNAs. Herpes viruses
cause permanent infections. They head straight to nerve cells, where they stay
latent for the life of an animal or person, often causing periodic
outbreaks.
Herpes simplex 1 or HSV-1 causes cold sores, HSV-2 causes
genital herpes, while varicella causes chicken pox and returns in middle or old
age as herpes zoster to cause shingles.