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 05 September 2008 05:54 BST

Study provides cold sore cure hopes

Thursday, 03 Jul 2008 08:00
The virus behind cold sores lies hidden until it is activated
Scientists believe they are a step closer to finding a cure for cold sores after discovering how the virus behind them manages to hide away.

Cold sores are painful blemishes around the mouth that are caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV1).

This virus lies dormant in a nerve of the face until it is triggered to reawaken by excessive sunlight, fever or other stresses.

Researchers at Duke University found that a molecule called LAT RNA is processed into smaller strands, called microRNAs, that block production of the proteins that make the virus turn on active replication.

As long as the supply of microRNAs is sufficient, the virus stays dormant.

But after a significant stress the virus starts making more messenger RNA than the supply of microRNAs can block, and ultimately causes the virus to make proteins that begin active viral replication.

The new supply of viruses then travels back down the nerve in the face to the site of the initial infection at the mouth.

Based on the findings the researchers are now testing a new drug designed to bind to the microRNAs that keep the virus dormant.

If it works, the researchers believe the virus would become activated and start replicating.

Once the virus is active, a patient would then take acyclovir, a drug that effectively kills replicating HSV1.

"In principle, you could activate and then kill all of the virus in a patient," said Bryan Cullen, Duke University professor of molecular genetics and microbiology.

"This would completely cure a person, and you would never get another cold sore."

The study is published in the journal Nature.
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