A Gene Therapy Approach to Clearing Persistent Herpesviruses

Approaches that might effectively clear herpesviruses from the body are of considerable interest, as there is good evidence for the burden of persistent infection to have a meaningful impact on the pace of aging, largely via detrimental effects on the operation of the immune system over the course of years and decades. This is particularly true for cytomegalovirus, which may be a major cause of immunosenescence in near all people, but one might also look at the (presently disputed) evidence for HSV-1 to be a primary contributing cause of Alzheimer's disease. Infectious disease researchers have used a gene editing approach to remove latent herpes simplex virus 1, or HSV-1, also known as oral herpes. In animal models, the findings show at least a 90 percent decrease in the latent virus, enough researchers expect that it will keep the infection from coming back. The study used two sets of genetic scissors to damage the virus's DNA, fine-tuned the delivery vehicle to the infected cells, and targeted the nerve pathways that connect the neck with the face and reach the tissue where the virus lies dormant in individuals with the infection. In the study, the researchers used two types of genetic scissors to cut the DNA of the herpes virus. They found that when using just one pair of the scissors the virus DNA can be repaired in the infected cell. But by combining two scissors - two sets of gene-cutting proteins called meganucleases that zero in on and cut a segment of...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs