Researchers at the University of Pennysylvanis School of Medicine have discovered part of the reason why cold sores, caused by a herpes virus, come back again and again. The study points to a small RNA molecule, called a microRNA (miRNA) as the culprit that keeps the virus-infected cell alive. These findings could one day lead to a new way to fight the virus and offers the first target for intervention in the latent infection.
It was found that the herpes simples virus 1 produces the miRNA molecule. This miRNA is encoded bythe Latency-Associated Transcript gene (LAT) in the viral genome and works through a process called RNA interference to prevent normal cell death or apoptosis.
No comments:
Post a Comment