Cells infected with herpes simplex virus (green) were treated with either control vehicle (left), or the EZH2/1 inhibitor GSK126 (right).
JESSIE H. ARBUCKLE/NIAID
When a virus invades a host cell, it needs to do some remodeling to make the environment safe for itself. In recent years, researchers have teased out how certain viruses—particularly, HIV and herpes simplex virus (HSV)—manipulate hosts’ epigenomes, and thus gene expression, to inhabit their cellular homes. Ultimately, they’d like to follow the cancer field's lead by developing epigenetics-based drugs against such diseases.
Recently, Thomas Kristie’s lab at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease set out to see what could be done epigenetically about HSV. The virus’s effects can range from cold sores to (in newborns) death, and ...
