HSV-1, OPTN, and Neurodegenerative Disease

[Zebra]

Hi, CFS Comrades,

I came across this article about a study linking HSV-1 to neurodegenerative diseases, and the roll of OPTN in inhibiting the growth/spread of HSV-1.

I will post the links below, and here are a few excerpts from the article to illustrate why I thought it was worth sharing.

Researchers sought to discover why HSV-1 can become fatal for individuals who are immunocompromised but not for healthy individuals. Herpesviruses naturally infect the central nervous system and can result in degenerative brain and eye disorders, as well as encephalitis. However, in most individuals, the virus is suppressed during a primary infection before it can significantly damage the central nervous system.
...
“OPTN stops the virus from growing and it stops it by autophagy — engulfing the virus particles inside tiny vesicles called autophagosomes. The autophagy that happens is very selective. That has meaning for other viruses as well,” Shukla said.
...
The researchers believe the results from this study will apply to all eight different human herpesviruses.
...
“The study also shows there is an impairment of immune response when there is a deficiency in OPTN. OPTN is needed to signal an influx of proper immune cells at the site of infection. When you don’t have it, you have issues,” said Chandrashekhar Patil, also a co-author of the study and a visiting scholar at UIC’s department of ophthalmology and visual science.

Here's a link to the easy-to-read article, which I quoted above:
https://scitechdaily.com/researcher...old-sores-and-neurodegenerative-diseases/amp/

Here's a link to the study and research paper:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25642-z

If this has been posted elsewhere, I apologize for the overlap.