[Experimental study on herpes simplex virus-1 functional gene latency in cornea].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the possible existence of herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) functional gene latency in cornea.


METHODS
A herpes simplex keratitis (HSK) model was established in New Zealand White (NZW) rabbit corneas, latently infected corneas were transplanted to one eye of each naive NZW rabbit. One week after the operation, the corneal buttons were removed and divided into three portions. One portion was processed for HSV-1 antigen detection, another was for HVS-1 latency associated transcript (LAT), thymidine kinase (TK) and DNA polymerase gene detections by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the last portion after tissue culture for 3 weeks, it was co-cultured with rabbit kidney cells (RK) for one week, then the expression of HSV-1 antigen in the RK cells and this portion of corneal button was detected.


RESULTS
In the 15 corneal samples negative for HSV-1 antigen, LAT gene was detected in 8 samples, TK gene in 10 and DNA polymerase gene in 6 samples. HSV-1 antigen was detected in 3 samples of RK cells and 6 cultured corneal samples.


CONCLUSIONS
HSV-1 functional genes are retained in latently infected cornea.
Xie
L
L
Institute of Ophthalmology and Eye Hospital, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China. lixinxie@public.qd.sd.cn
Li
S
S
Dong
X
X
Yuan
F
F
Jiang
Z
Z
Shi
W
W
D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000821:virology*; D005814:Genes, Viral; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D016849:Keratitis, Herpetic / Q000821:virology; D011817:Rabbits; D017735:Virus Latency / Q000235:genetics*