From Deseret News archives:
Researchers find genetic link to herpes virus
The findings will be released Friday in The Journal of Infectious Diseases and the researchers hope it will ultimately lead to medications to treat outbreaks and reduce their frequency, said Dr. John D. Kriesel, the study's corresponding author and research associate professor in the U. medical school's Division of Infectious Diseases.
Maurine R. Hobbs, Ph.D., research assistant professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, is the study's first author.
Cold sores, the most common recurring viral infection in people, are caused by type 1 of the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1). Once an outbreak subsides, the virus stays "quiescent" within the nerve until it reactivates. It's believed at least 40 percent of Americans will have at least one cold sore at some point. The virus also causes herpes keratitis, an eye infection that can damage the cornea and even cause blindness. HSV-2, the second kind of herpes simplex virus, is the primary cause of genital herpes.
Linkage analysis uses genetic markers in families to find regions on chromosomes that have disease genes. The markers are passed from parent to child along with the genetic mutation. So if they find markers shared by family members, the researchers can zero in on regions of chromosomes where the genes may lie. It's the first whole-genome study of HSV to use that analysis.
The program said the odds are 1,000-to-1 that the area around chromosome 21 is involved in cold sore outbreaks.
They also wanted to determine the degree to which outbreaks are heritable, Kriesel said. Huntington's disease is entirely genetic, although it's not always passed on. Alcoholism and schizophrenia are both believed to be 20 to 40 percent heritable.
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