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The Strange Evolution of the Herpes Virus

Most people dread the mere mention of the term herpes, associating it with painful blisters, either embarrassingly located on the lips or inconveniently located on the genitals. And it turns out that humans and other mammals have spent millions of years living and evolving with latent viral infections. Since human and mouse herpes viruses are genetically very closely related, it strongly suggests that present day herpes viruses are descended from viruses that infected evolutionary ancestors common to both mice and humans.

Discoveries About Herpes

In recent years, there have been new discoveries about herpes. Therefore, instead of regarding herpes as a curse, a suffering on humankind, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have stumbled upon a strange trade off between the herpes virus and living animals, publishing their findings in the scientific journal Nature.

In announcing their findings, the researchers stressed that they did not intend to diminish the suffering and health risks upon humans (about 45 million Americans) caused by herpes infections. Yet they did point out that several strains of herpes present in the human population do exist symptom-free throughout the person’s lifetime.

Resisting Bacteria

First, the scientists have discovered that mice with latent herpes viral infections can better resist the bacteria that causes plague and also another bacteria that causes a type of food poisoning due to changes in their immune system. And this strange symbiotic relationship also applies to humans.

Human herpes viruses include oral and genital herpes, the chickenpox virus, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus. Through a beginning period of acute infection, these viruses cause symptoms such as fever, cold sores or blisters. They then enter periods of latency, sometimes reappearing periodically, and other times never recurring. In fact, certain herpes viruses (HHV6 and HHV7) can permanently infect the majority of humans without ever manifesting any apparent symptoms.

Altering Our Immune System

Recent insights into this symbiotic relationship point to the fact that herpes infections may have altered our immune systems at a fundamental level, to the extent that chronic viral infections may now define what the normal human immune response is. (For example, there are many types of bacteria and microorganisms living in the human gut to the advantage of both the microbes and humans.)

Further Protection

In further study of laboratory mice, the researchers found that the mice controlled the herpes infections by boosting production of a protein hormone called interferon gamma, which then relayed other immune system components to awaken their defenses. When the scientists exposed the mice to a Listeria infection (a food poisoning strain which attacks the central nervous system), they observed in the mice with latent herpes infection that the bacteria replicated more slowly and were not probable to kill the mice (this infection is comparable to those occurring in humans infected with tuberculosis).

So now, a new mathematical model, devised by a microbiologist renowned for his study of H. pylori and a mathematician, provides the framework for understanding how persistent microbes obtain equilibrium with their human hosts. The model uses game theory, developed by Nobel prize-winning mathematician John Nash, the subject of the book and movie A Beautiful Mind, to describe a particular type of equilibrium.

New Breakthrough

To take this whole field of science to a new level, a researcher announced in July 2007, at the European Society for Medical Oncology conference (oncology is the treatment of cancer), that a new type of herpes virus, which was designed by scientists, has shown positive results as a cancer cell destroyer!

The new strain (called NV1020), which does not harm normal cells, has been engineered by scientists to reproduce inside cancer cells, killing them in the process. Already tested in animals, the new strain has proved to be lethal at killing colorectal cancer cells and liver cancers.

A new study, led by the University of California, San Diego, is conducting testing of the virus in humans at seven leading U.S. cancer centers. Colorectal (also called colon cancer), is the third most common form of cancer and the second leading cause of death among cancers, causing 655,000 deaths worldwide per year.

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