Herpesvirus initiation of dementias and autoimmune diseases.

Abstract

Several viral, bacterial, fungal, and protozoan parasite pathogens are capable of causing either active and/or latent chronic infections, particularly if they are highly immuno-evasive. The nine human herpesviruses are among the most evasive pathogens. They can remain latent for decades, but can periodically reactivate into active chronic infections after various triggers: medical treatments causing intentional or unintentional immune system suppression, other pathogen infections, malnutrition, stress, or unusual host cell signaling. Various neurological disorders including dementias and severe autoimmune diseases have been linked to highly prevalent human herpesvirus infections including herpes simplex type 1 and 2, varicella-zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus, human cytomegalovirus, and herpesviruses 6A, 6B, 7 and 8. For example, dementias including Alzheimer's disease have been extensively linked to herpes simplex type 1 and 2, and herpesvirus 6A and 7, but other herpesviruses may be indirectly involved in dementias. For instance, recent evidence strongly suggests dementias can result from reactivated varicella-zoster herpes virus infections, whereas effective vaccinations against varicella-zoster herpes virus reactivations to avoid shingles have also shown significant reductions in dementia probabilities for vaccinated individuals. This raises questions about how various herpesviruses can initiate or enable neurological diseases including dementias and autoimmune diseases, and how their infections and particularly their reactivations from latency can initiate these diseases.