Novel and Effective HSV Treatment

Alex Evilevitch of Lund University has published a paper in PLOS Pathogens describing an effective treatment for HSV using chemical moieties to block replication. Not a cure, but a treatment that works by not allowing the injection of DNA into cells targeted by the virus. He, with the help of preclinical studies at the National Institutes of Health in the United States, has identified small molecules that are able to penetrate the virus and “turn off” the high pressure (20 atmospheres! No wonder injection is so easy) in the genome of the virus without damaging the cell. These molecules proved to have a strong antiviral effect that was several times higher than the standard treatment against certain herpes types with the drug Aciclovir, as well as against resistant herpesvirus strains where Aciclovir does not work. The approach prevented viral infection.

The University of Lund has a nice news announcement covering this.

Homework: Pressurized DNA state inside herpes capsids—A novel antiviral target, Alberto Brandariz-Nuñez, Scott J. Robinson, Alex Evilevitch