Herpes Virus Invades the Nervous System, Study Reveals Its Complicated Hijacking Sequence

In a new study, a team of researchers from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in the United States has just revealed an important piece of the puzzle that could lead the way to new approaches to treating the herpes virus and why or how it is invading the nervous system.

A ScienceAlert report specifically describes herpes simplex as the "criminal genius of all viruses," invading the cells lining the more delicate parts of the body before they find their "way into the nervous system," where it is hiding in the DNA. Exactly how they are carrying out such a complicated hijacking sequence is only partly understood.

Essentially, this tremendously common disease is an all-too-familiar infection to the majority of the world's population, whether they are aware of it or not.

Existing in more than two-thirds of all humans as an HSV-1 or type-1 oral variety, or HSV-2 or the sexually-transmitted type-2 form, this virus, as detailed in World Health Organization report, has been an intimate companion for the human species for as long as they've become one, or perhaps, even longer.

Herpes Virus

Even though it's typically discreet, the virus can generate some downright uncomfortable and even harsh symptoms, from the universal cold-sore blisters to the infrequent yet distressing effect it can have when it penetrates the eye.

In some of the most tragic circumstances, transferring the infection from mother to child can be deadly for a newborn. Surprisingly, more than a thousand infant mortalities in the US have been attributed to the illness alone over the past 20 years.

Herpes is even implicated as a cause, or at least a contributing factor, in dementia cases. Getting into a dependable treatment, if not a vaccine, would lead to so much relief and safety for people globally.

Unfortunately, the herpes virus is considered a "wily one," having itself exposed to one's immune system for the shortest period before it inserts its DNA into the genetic library of the peripheral nerve cells.

Cell Reprogrammed Into a Virus Factory

There, the virus stays, an ingredient for disaster that begs to be translated into a "new generation of infectious particles" the moment the heat vanishes.

According to Gregory Smith, an immunologist from Northwestern Medicine, the virus is reprogramming the cell to turn into a virus factory.

How Herpes Enters the Nucleus

The big question on how it's getting into the neuron's nucleus now arises. A hit lies in pUL36, a protein that the virus encodes.

Past studies showed the protein could lock onto molecules of dynein, small biological motors that "click-clack" their way along with the web of stiff strings, helping to give a cell its formation.

To simply put, this virus appears to make its way around, and inside of any cell, it's penetrating by hitching a ride on the own rail network of a cell, care of its small grappling hook.

Stealing a Tool from the Original Cell

In their research published in Nature, the researchers have shown that the virus is simply stealing a tool from the original cells it's breaking into.

A motor protein called kinesin; an additional molecular device, walks along the strings of microtubules supporting the cell.

Using both kinesin and dynein, as described in a National Library of Medicine report, to move around inside a cell is not essentially unusual for a virus. What's clever with herpes is that it takes one-half of this set from one type of cell and utilizes it in another type to move more effectively.

Further investigations showed how such a theft helped the virus make its way to the nerve cell's nucleus. In the study, the researchers wrote, once it got in the body of the neuron, it was able to take a rapid straight to DNA central minus risking the additional delay of "randomly zig-zagging back and forth."

Essentially, a nerve cell might not appear big, although a virus that ratchets its way along cellular webbings' weaving strands is quite a long one.

Related information about herpes simplex virus is shown on HCA Virginia Health System's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Herpes Simplex Virus in Science Times.