CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A new study from Northwestern University offered a look at how herpes moves within the nervous system and the chances for a vaccine.
Over half of U.S. adults have the Herpes simplex 1 virus, more commonly known as oral herpes, but many are carriers with no symptoms.
A Northwestern study published in the journal Nature finds the virus kidnaps a protein from epithelial cells and turns it into a defector to travel into the peripheral nervous system in a process called “assimilation.”
Related
Authors said this is the first discovery of any virus repurposing a cellular protein and using it to drive subsequent rounds of infection and could have wide-ranging implications for many viruses, including HIV and the novel coronavirus.
Greg Smith, the study’s lead author and a professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine, said the study shows learning how the virus gets into our nervous system means we can now think about how to take away that ability and develop a vaccine.
Related
