{"id":5378,"date":"2019-09-11T08:43:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T06:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.resist-cluster.de\/?page_id=5378"},"modified":"2025-08-27T13:59:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:59:50","slug":"project-a3","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.resist-cluster.de\/en\/research\/project-area-a\/project-a3\/","title":{"rendered":"Project A3"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Which genetic factors lead to severe disease progressions? How does the virus manage to persist in the body permanently and what causes reactivation?<\/h1><\/div>

Prof. H\u00fchn\u00a0 |\u00a0 Prof. Werfel\u00a0 | Prof. Viejo-Borbolla | Dr. R\u00f6sner<\/a><\/p><\/h2><\/div>

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What is this research project about?<\/h1><\/div>
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Human neurons infected with varicella zoster virus expressing a red fluorescent marker<\/p>\n<\/div>

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What is this research project about?<\/h1><\/div>

Varicella zoster virus (VZV) infects the majority of people in industrialised countries. VZV establishes latency in neurons, remaining lifelong in the infected individual. Reactivation of VZV normally results in shingles, characterized by a painful rash, which may be followed by post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), the second most common type of neuropathic pain worldwide. PHN is chronic pain that lasts for months after the disappearance of the rash and active VZV replication. Therefore, we hypothesise that VZV imposes epigenetic modifications in key genes involved in pain, leading to long-term changes in expression and activity even once VZV replication and expression has ended. Infection of the central nervous system may lead to encephalitis. Most individuals control VZV infection, whereas in others PHN or life-threatening diseases are more common. The mechanisms leading to latency and reactivation of VZV are unknown. Genetic polymorphisms, mainly affecting immune-related genes, may account for the different outcomes of infection. However, the relevance of most polymorphisms on VZV susceptibility has not been investigated.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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What’s the current status?<\/h1><\/div>
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Drugs to treat VZV disease target the lytic virus without affecting the latent reservoir. A newly developed subunit vaccine protects against zoster and subsequent chronic pain. However, the safety and efficacy of this vaccine has not been tested in most risk groups. Moreover, vaccination is far from universal. The identification of genetic polymorphisms responsible for severe VZV susceptibility and the mechanisms governing latency and reactivation will facilitate the development of drugs to alleviate exacerbated VZV disease.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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There is a vaccine that protects against zoster.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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What are the project goals?<\/h1><\/div>

We want to answer the following questions:<\/p>\n<\/div>