Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0022568 (keratitis)
 5,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Fifteen patients with intentional or unintentional V1 lesions one to five years after percutaneous radiofrequency trigeminal rhizotomy were examined. No corneal changes developed in the majority of patients. These findings raise the question as to the precipitating factor(s) for neuroparalytic keratitis. The suggested mechanism for preservation of corneal function appears to be intact axonal mechanism(s).
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PMID:Corneal anesthesia after percutaneous radiofrequency trigeminal rhizotomy. A retrospective study. 706 48

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a neurotropic double-stranded DNA virus that causes cold sores, keratitis, and rarely encephalitis in humans. Nonpathogenic HSV-1 gene transfer vectors have been generated by elimination of viral functions necessary for replication. The life cycle of the native virus includes replication in epithelial cells at the site of initial inoculation followed by retrograde axonal transport to the nuclei of sensory neurons innervating the area of cutaneous primary infection. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the molecular basis for HSV cell entry, nuclear transport of the genome, virion egress following replication, and retrograde and anterograde axonal transport in neurons. We discuss how each of these properties has been exploited or modified to allow the generation of gene transfer vectors with particular utility for neurological applications. Recent advances in engineering virus entry have provided proof of principle that vector targeting is possible. Furthermore, significant and potentially therapeutic modifications to the pathological responses to various noxious insults have been demonstrated in models of peripheral nerve disease. These applications exploit the natural axonal transport mechanism of HSV, allowing transgene expression in the cell nucleus within the inaccessible trigeminal ganglion or dorsal root ganglion, following the noninvasive procedure of subcutaneous vector inoculation. These findings demonstrate the importance of understanding basic virology in the design of vector systems and the powerful approach of exploiting favorable properties of the parent virus in the generation of gene transfer vectors.
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PMID:HSV trafficking and development of gene therapy vectors with applications in the nervous system. 1590 95

Herpes simplex keratitis (HSK) results from an infection with the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) also known as human herpesvirus type 1 (HHV-1). Primary infection may involve an ocular or non-ocular site, following which latency might be established principally in the trigeminal ganglion but also in the cornea. During latency, the virus appears as a circular episome associated with histones with active transcription only from the region encoding the latency-associated transcript (LAT). The LAT region is implicated in neuronal survival, anti-apoptosis, virulence, suppression of transcription, establishment of and reactivation from latency. The initial keratitis may develop after infection through the "front door route" (entry into the ocular surface from droplet spread) or "back door route" (spread to the eye from a non-ocular site, principally the mouth). The initial ocular infection may be mild. Visual morbidity results from recurrent keratitis, which leads to corneal scarring, thinning and neovascularisation. Although, recurrent disease may potentially occur through anterograde axonal spread from the trigeminal ganglion to the cornea, recent evidence suggests that HSV-1 in the cornea may be another source of recurrent disease. The pathogenesis and severity of HSK is largely determined by an interaction between viral genes encoded by the strain of HSV-1 and the make up of the host's immune system. Herpetic stromal disease is due to the immune response to virus within the cornea and the ability of the strain to cause corneal stromal disease is correlated with its ability to induce corneal vascularisation. The pathogenesis of corneal scarring and vascularisation is uncertain but appears to be a complex interaction of various cytokines, chemokines and growth factors either brought in by inflammatory cells or produced locally in response to HSV-1 infection. Evidence now suggests that HSV-1 infection disrupts the normal equilibrium between angiogenic and anti-angiogenic stimuli leading to vascularisation. Thrombospondin 1 and 2, matricellular proteins, involved in wound healing are potent anti-angiogenic factors and appear to be one of the key players. Elucidating their roles in corneal scarring and vascularisation may lead to improved therapies for HSK.
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PMID:Herpes simplex keratitis. 1680 55