"Novel" triggers of herpesvirus reactivation and their potential health relevance

Abstract

After primary infection, herpesviruses persist for life in their hosts in a latent stage (Adler et al., 2017). Different subfamilies of herpesviruses establish latency in specific and different sets of cells (Pellett and Roizman, 2013; Lieberman, 2016). The latent stage can be interrupted by periods of lytic replication, termed reactivation. Reactivation is important for viral spread to new hosts or for the maintenance of the viral reservoir in the host. Usually, reactivation is not associated with disease but under certain circumstances, it may be accompanied by clinical symptoms. The stimuli and the precise molecular mechanisms that lead to reactivation from the latent state are not fully understood and can differ from one herpesvirus to another.