Herpes Simplex Type 1 DNA in Human Brain Tissue

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is known to reside latently in the trigeminal ganglia of man. Reactivation of this virus causes skin lesions and may occasionally infect other tissues, including the brain. To determine whether the brain tissue of humans free of clinical signs of HSV-1 infection c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1981-10, Vol.78 (10), p.6461-6465
Main Authors: Fraser, Nigel W., Lawrence, William C., Wroblewska, Zofia, Gilden, Donald H., Koprowski, Hilary
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brain
Brain - microbiology
Cloning, Molecular
DNA probes
DNA, Viral - analysis
Genes, Viral
Genomes
herpes simplex virus 1
Human herpesvirus 1
Humans
Infections
Multiple sclerosis
Nucleic Acid Hybridization
Nucleotide sequences
Protein Biosynthesis
Simplexvirus
Simplexvirus - genetics
Simplexvirus - isolation & purification
Viral DNA
Virions
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is known to reside latently in the trigeminal ganglia of man. Reactivation of this virus causes skin lesions and may occasionally infect other tissues, including the brain. To determine whether the brain tissue of humans free of clinical signs of HSV-1 infection contains any trace of HSV-1, we examined the DNA from brain tissue by endonuclease digestion, separation of the fragments by gel electrophoresis, and hybridization with labeled HSV-1 DNA probes. Hybrid bands were detected autoradiographically in experiments using cloned and virion-purified fragments of the HSV-1 genome. HSV-1 DNA sequences were found in 6 of 11 human brain DNA samples tested. In some cases, these bands corresponded to the bands expected for the complete viral genome, whereas others contained bands representing only a part of the genome. In some cases, the terminal fragments could be found, suggesting that the DNA was in a linear, nonintegrated form.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.78.10.6461