Podcasts about herpesviruses

HEALTH NEWS   Analysis of 82 Trials Shows Black Seed May Improve Cardiovascular Risk Markers New Study Reveals Herpesvirus Infection May Accelerate Alzheimer's Disease Favorable lifestyle factors reduce dementia risk across key genetic profiles People are living longer, but spending more years in poor health Imbalances in the oral microbiome linked to symptomatic hand osteoarthritis       Analysis of 82 Trials Shows Black Seed May Improve Cardiovascular Risk Markers Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (Iran), July 21 2026 (Natural News)     A pooled analysis of 82 randomized controlled trials involving 5,026 adults has found that supplementation with Nigella sativa, commonly known as black seed or black cumin, is associated with improvements in multiple cardiovascular risk markers.   The meta-analysis, published in the journal Pharmacological Research, was conducted by researchers from several Iranian universities. The analysis used a GRADE-assessed, dose-response method to evaluate the effects of black seed compared with placebo or standard care.   According to the study, black seed supplementation led to significant reductions in body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and body fat percentage. The analysis noted that daily amounts used in most trials ranged from 1 to 3 grams of ground black seed or 1 to 3 milliliters of black seed oil. According to the researchers, one teaspoon of ground black seed contains roughly 4 grams, meaning a single daily teaspoon stirred into food falls within the range used in studies. For those who prefer oil, a half teaspoon delivers close to 2 milliliters. The researchers emphasized that consistency, rather than a large single dose, appears to drive positive results.   New Study Reveals Herpesvirus Infection May Accelerate Alzheimer's Disease Cardiff University (UK), July 21, 2026 (SciTech Daily) In a new study, researchers found that herpesvirus infection intensified memory problems and other Alzheimer's-related changes in mice already vulnerable to the disease. The damage appeared to be driven not simply by the virus itself, but by the immune system's prolonged attempt to control it. Herpesviruses are a large family that includes viruses associated with cold sores, childhood infections, and glandular fever. After the initial illness passes, some can remain dormant inside the body and reactivate later, repeatedly drawing the immune system into action. Scientists results suggest that T cells, immune cells that identify and attack infected cells, can enter the brain during herpesvirus infection and accelerate cognitive decline. Following infection, large numbers of immune cells moved into the brain. Most were CD8+ T cells that specifically recognized the virus, showing that they had entered the tissue as part of the body's attempt to contain the infection. Similar T cells have previously been found in the brains and spinal fluid of people with Alzheimer's disease, although their exact role has remained uncertain. The results indicate that a virus-driven immune response can actively speed the progression of Alzheimer's-like disease rather than merely appearing alongside it.     Favorable lifestyle factors reduce dementia risk across key genetic profiles     Kyushu University (Japan), June 5 2026 (News-Medical) With dementia cases expected to nearly triple worldwide by 2050, researchers are increasingly focused on identifying ways to prevent or delay the disease. While lifestyle and health-related factors, such as blood pressure control and physical activity, influence dementia risk, genetics also play a major role. Currently, it is unclear if maintaining a favorable lifestyle reduces dementia risk equally across different genetic backgrounds. A new study led by Kyushu University examines whether favorable modifiable risk factors (mRF)-behaviors or conditions that people can change or control-can lower dementia risk even among individuals with high genetic susceptibility. The researchers analyzed data from 9,605 community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older. They determined each participant's APOE ε4 genotypes, a primary genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, and calculated the mRF score based on lifestyle and health-related factors. This allowed the team to evaluate how genetic predisposition and lifestyle choices jointly interact to influence dementia risk. The results showed that dementia risk rose progressively with the number of APOE ε4 alleles. Notably, among individuals with one or no APOE ε4 alleles, maintaining a healthier profile with lower mRF scores was linked to a significantly lower risk of dementia. In contrast, among individuals with two APOE ε4 alleles, dementia risk did not differ significantly between those with lower and higher mRF scores. These findings suggest that maintaining favorable lifestyle and health conditions can effectively mitigate dementia risk, even among individuals carrying a single APOE ε4 allele. This underscores the importance of population-based prevention strategies focused on managing vascular and lifestyle risk factors.     People are living longer, but spending more years in poor health Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (US), July 21 2026 (Eurekalert)   People are living longer, but spending more years in poor health  The morbidity gap—the number of years people live in poor health—widened in nearly all countries, with wealthier nations facing the largest gaps.      The US has the largest morbidity gap, closely followed by Australia and Canada.   Women consistently live longer but spend more years in poor health than men.   Musculoskeletal disorders, mental health conditions, hearing loss, and falls and other unintentional injuries are driving most years lived in poor health worldwide.  Within a generation, the global morbidity gap widened by nearly two years, increasing from 8.8 years in 1990 to 10.7 years in 2023. Globally, people spent an average of 14.5% of their lives in poor health in 2023, up from 13.6% in 1990. Instead of occurring only in the final years of life, the widening morbidity gap was observed across the adult lifespan, suggesting that people are spending more years living with disease and disability throughout adulthood.  Between 1990 and 2023, global life expectancy at birth increased from 64.6 years to 73.8 years, while healthy life expectancy rose from 55.9 years to 63.1 years. In 2023, the United States had the largest national morbidity gap at 14 years, followed by Australia at 13.9 years and Canada at 13.7 years.   Imbalances in the oral microbiome linked to symptomatic hand osteoarthritis Central South University (China), July 21 2026 (Medica Xpress) A study published RMD Open has linked specific imbalances and disruptions in the oral microbiome to symptomatic hand arthritis. Its findings suggest that the microbial environment of the mouth may influence the disease process of hand arthritis, which is associated with pain, stiffness and reduced grip strength and can severely impair quality of life. The oral microbiome plays a role in systemic inflammation and interacts closely with the gut microbiome, which is significantly associated with symptomatic hand arthritis. To assess the role of the oral microbiome, saliva samples from 52 people with symptomatic hand arthritis recruited from a community-based osteoarthritis study and 712 people without the condition were analyzed using ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Compared with samples taken from participants without hand arthritis, samples from participants with symptomatic hand arthritis showed significantly lower oral microbial richness and altered composition. Specifically, the abundance of Trichococcus bacteria was significantly higher in the symptomatic hand arthritis samples and positively associated with the severity of hand arthritis symptoms. Trichococcus abundance in the oral microbiome was also positively associated with the gut microbial tyrosine metabolism pathway—a metabolic pathway previously implicated in hand arthritis. Samples from participants with symptomatic hand arthritis also displayed reduced oral-gut microbiome correlations compared with controls, suggesting the balance between these two microbial communities was disrupted.

TWiV explain the tracing of 2500 years of human betaherpesvirus 6A and 6B diversity through ancient human DNA, the effect of shingles vaccination at different stages of the dementia disease course. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Support science education at MicrobeTV ASV 2026 Ancient human herpesvirus 6 (Sci Adv) First through sixth diseases (Merck Manual) Effect of shingle vaccination on different stages of dementia (Cell) Letters read on TWiV 1287 Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – TWiM Annotations and Resources Book for Teaching Alan – Starter Villain, by John Scalzi Rich – Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas, by John Scalzi Vincent – Mina's Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa Listener Picks Rona – Maggie and Millie and Molly and May by Natalie Merchant Owen – How to get the vaccines you need now Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv Content in this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

TWiV reviews compelling virology themes for 2024, as heard in our 98 episodes, including 22 guests. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Kathy Spindler Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Support science education at MicrobeTV ASV 2026 Dismantling of science and public health in the US including TWiV 1199, TWiV 1191, TWiV 1197, TWiV 1203, TWiV 1205 , TWiV 1209, TWiV 1211, TWiV 1215, TWiV 1217,  TWiV 1219, TWiV 1221, TWiV 1223, TWiV 1225, TWiV 1227, TWiV 1231, TWiV 1233, TWiV 1241, TWiV 1243,  TWiV 1245, TWiV 1285. Herpesviruses and dementia TWiV 1187, TWiV 1207, TWiV 1249, TWiV 1263, TWIV 1233 Hepatitis B, C TWiV 1213, TWIV 1237, Chari Cohen, Stephan Urban, Thomas Tu, TWiV 1279 POTW themes/highlights Dickson Despommier passes TWIV 1195, TWiP 254, YouTube excerpt, DDD Photography, 'Despommier's Parasitic Diseases' H5N1 in dairy cattle TWiV 1193, TWiV 1257, TWiV 1259 (goats), TWiV 1211 EBV and Lupus TWiV 1273 Vaccines TWiV 1209, TWiV 1265, TWiV 1267 Some classic papers TWIV 1241, TWiV 1273, TWiV 1275, TWiV 1279, TWiV 1269 Respiratory infections awaken dormant breast cancer cells TWiV 1243 Phages TWiV 1261, TWiV 1181 Letters read on TWiV 1285 Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Weekly Picks Kathy – APOD for 1/1/2026; American Kestrals Put the Cherry on Top    Primary article (open access) Vincent – Science in Your Own Back Yard by Elizabeth Cooper Listener Picks Bill – They did the Monster Slash and Elle Cordova Rona – The married scientists torn apart by a COVID bioweapon theory Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv Content in this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR-Cas12a), discovered a few years ago, is a method that detects even small levels of pathogens.Professor Kevin J Zwezdaryk and researchers at the Tulane University School of Medicine, USA, are working on a cost-effective, CRISPR-Cas12a-based pathogen detection tool aiming to upgrade patient care. Read more in Research Features Read the original research: doi.org/10.1016/j.bmt.2023.03.004

In this research summary we look at the role of reactivated human herpesviruses (HHV) in ME/CFS and Long Covid. This is because a number of recent studies have implied that HHV's could be involved in disease pathology causing and perpetuating symptoms. And because this might lead to effective treatments and diagnostic tests. 

Ten years and 8 autoimmune/chronic conditions into remission ago (in my Gettysburg address voice) I can tell you there is SO MUCH misinformation when it comes to autoimmune disease. So much that sometimes it makes me so angry with the medical profession.    Even our medical professionals don't readily share the truth about your body's ability to heal because they simply have been taught a different rhetoric.    Let's reprogram your rhetoric right here, right now, with the fact- filled research.   FREE One Day Detox https://www.inspirehealthbyjen.com/onedaydetox  Bloghttps://www.inspirehealthbyjen.com/work-with-jen    Alvergne, A., & Lummaa, V. (2010). Does the contraceptive pill alter mate choice in humans? Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 25(3), 171–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2009.08.003    Ascherio, A., & Munger, K. L. (2015). EBV and Autoimmunity. Current topics in microbiology and immunology, 390(Pt 1), 365–385. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22822-8_15   Benagiano, G., Benagiano, M., Bianchi, P., D'Elios, M. M., & Brosens, I. (2019). Contraception in autoimmune diseases. Best practice & research. Clinical obstetrics & gynaecology, 60, 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2019.05.003   Bookwalter, D. B., Roenfeldt, K. A., LeardMann, C. A., Kong, S. Y., Riddle, M. S., & Rull, R. P. (2020). Posttraumatic stress disorder and risk of selected autoimmune diseases among US military personnel. BMC Psychiatry, 20(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-2432-9   Dube SR, Fairweather D, Pearson WS, Felitti VJ, Anda RF, Croft JB, Dube, S. R., Fairweather, D., Pearson, W. S., Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., & Croft, J. B. (2009). Cumulative childhood stress and autoimmune diseases in adults. Psychosomatic Medicine, 71(2), 243–250. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181907888   FELDMAN, R. (2020). Perverse Incentives: Why Everyone Prefers High Drug Prices--Except for Those Who Pay the Bills. Harvard Journal on Legislation, 57(2), 303–376.   Houen, G., Trier, N. H., & Frederiksen, J. L. (2020). Epstein-Barr Virus and Multiple Sclerosis. Frontiers in immunology, 11, 587078. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.587078   Leverone, D., & Epstein, B. J. (2010). Nonpharmacological interventions for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: a focus on mind-body medicine. Journal of pharmacy practice, 23(2), 101–109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0897190009360025   Macarenco, M.-M., Opariuc-Dan, C., & Nedelcea, C. (2021). Childhood trauma, dissociation, alexithymia, and anger in people with autoimmune diseases: A mediation model. Child Abuse & Neglect, 122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105322   Mirashrafi, S., Hejazi Taghanaki, S. Z., Sarlak, F., Moravejolahkami, A. R., Hojjati Kermani, M. A., & Haratian, M. (2021). Effect of probiotics supplementation on disease progression, depression, general health, and anthropometric measurements in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 75(11), e14724. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcp.14724 Posnett D. N. (2008). Herpesviruses and autoimmunity. Current opinion in investigational drugs (London, England : 2000), 9(5), 505–514.   Rashidian, A., Omidvari, A. H., Vali, Y., Sturm, H., & Oxman, A. D. (2015). Pharmaceutical policies: effects of financial incentives for prescribers. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 2015(8), CD006731. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD006731.pub2   Roberts, A. L., Malspeis, S., Kubzansky, L. D., Feldman, C. H., Chang, S. C., Koenen, K. C., & Costenbader, K. H. (2017). Association of Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder With Incident Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in a Longitudinal Cohort of Women. Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.), 69(11), 2162–2169. https://doi.org/10.1002/art.40222   Williams W. V. (2017). Hormonal contraception and the development of autoimmunity: A review of the literature. The Linacre quarterly, 84(3), 275–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/00243639.2017.1360065 https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/epstein-barr-virus-autoimmune-diseases

Interview with Upstate virologist Eain Murphy, PhD

El mundo microscópico no deja de sorprendernos: esta semana hemos aprendido que los virus del herpes son capaces de "secuestrar" proteínas de transporte del interior de las células, llevárselas a otras células y usarlas allí para llegar adonde necesitan llegar. El periplo del herpes por nuestro cuerpo es muy complejo, y gracias a esa sofisticación los virus logran sobrevivir en nuestro interior durante toda la vida. En este episodio os contamos cómo el herpes entra en nuestro cuerpo a través de la piel y después "se esconde" en el interior de las neuronas. Pero las neuronas son células muy largas, a veces de más de un metro de largo, y para moverse por dentro de ellas necesitan "ir de polizones" en el propio transporte interno de la célula. La novedad de esta semana es que no sólo se aprovechan de las proteínas de transporte neuronales, sino que también secuestran otras proteínas de células de la piel para usarlas en el interior de la neurona. En el episodio de hoy os hablamos del ingenio y la sofisticación de estos virus, perfectamente adaptados para vivir entre nosotros. El artículo en que nos hemos basado es "Herpesviruses assimilate kinesin to produce motorized viral particles", de Caitlin Pegg et al. Nature, vol. 599 (2021). Podéis encontrarlo en este enlace: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04106-w Durante el programa mencionamos un programa anterior en el que hablamos de otra interacción peculiar entre neuronas y virus, en este caso en la otra dirección: neuronas que "domestican" virus para usarlos como mensajeros. Si lo queréis escuchar, es el episodio s07e22. También hablamos de otro episodio en el que viajamos al interior de la célula y describimos cómo es por dentro: es el capítulo s10e04. Y finalmente, si queréis aprender más sobre el "transporte de mercancías" en el interior de las células buscad el episodio s03e04. Este programa se emitió originalmente el 26 de noviembre de 2021. Podéis escuchar el resto de audios de La Brújula en la app de Onda Cero y en su web, ondacero.es

This week Jack is joined by Professor Thomas Schulz to hear about the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, the most common cause of tumours in men in sub-Saharan Africa, and how herpesviruses mask themselves from our immune systems. If you like this podcast check out some of our previous content about herpesviruses over at cvrblogs.myportfolio.com. Music: The Zeppelin by Blue Dot Sessions (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/Aeronaut/The_Zeppelin_1908)

Investigating and assigning gene functions of herpesviruses is a process, which profits from consistent technical innovation. Cloning of bacterial artificial chromosomes encoding herpesvirus genomes permits nearly unlimited possibilities in the construction of genetically modified viruses. Targeted or randomized screening approaches allow rapid identification of essential viral proteins. Nevertheless, mapping of essential genes reveals only limited insight into function. The usage of dominant-negative (DN) proteins has been the tool of choice to dissect functions of proteins during the viral life cycle. DN proteins also facilitate the analysis of host-virus interactions. Finally, DNs serve as starting-point for design of new antiviral strategies.

Herpesviruses constitute a family of large DNA viruses widely spread in vertebrates and causing a variety of different diseases. They possess dsDNA genomes ranging from 120 to 240 kbp encoding between 70 to 170 open reading frames. We previously reported the protein interaction networks of two herpesviruses, varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). In this study, we systematically tested three additional herpesvirus species, herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), murine cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus, for protein interactions in order to be able to perform a comparative analysis of all three herpesvirus subfamilies. We identified 735 interactions by genome-wide yeast-two-hybrid screens (Y2H), and, together with the interactomes of VZV and KSHV, included a total of 1,007 intraviral protein interactions in the analysis. Whereas a large number of interactions have not been reported previously, we were able to identify a core set of highly conserved protein interactions, like the interaction between HSV-1 UL33 with the nuclear egress proteins UL31/UL34. Interactions were conserved between orthologous proteins despite generally low sequence similarity, suggesting that function may be more conserved than sequence. By combining interactomes of different species we were able to systematically address the low coverage of the Y2H system and to extract biologically relevant interactions which were not evident from single species.

Vincent, DIck, and Alan chat about reconstruction of a bat SARS-like coronavirus, herpesviruses that are killing elephants in zoos, and a plan to eradicate AIDS in ten years. Links for this episode: The Virology Network at socialmedian.com. The bat SARS-like coronavirus: scientific article in PNAS, and the Wired Science article. NY Times Editorial on eradicating AIDS. Herpesviruses killing elephants. Science podcast pick of the week: Futures in Biotech. Science book of the week: Principles of Molecular Virology, by AJ Cann.

Host: Vincent Racaniello Special guest: Saul Silverstein Dickson Despommier is away this week at Pop!Tech. CDC pages on herpes and zoster (shingles).

Human cytomegalovirus is a ubiquitous human pathogen, causing disease in the immunocompromised host. Most of its ORFs have not been well studied due to a limited host range and slow growth of HCMV in cultured cells. MCMV, a natural pathogen isolated from mice, constitutes the most amenable animal model for human β-herpesviruses. To date most of its approximately 200 genes have an unknown function. For the analysis of these genes straightforward mutagenesis methods are necessary. With the cloning of herpesviruses as an infectious bacterial artificial chromosome a novel approach of mutagenesis has been established. Herpesviruses are now accessible to the tools of bacterial genetics. Since then site-directed mutagenesis by homologous recombination using linear DNA fragments and random transposon BAC mutagenesis have been introduced to delineate the functions of viral ORFs. The purpose of this work was to analyze two members of the US 22 gene homolog family, genes m139 and m142, with site-directed mutagenesis. Members of this family are conserved in all herpesviruses and mostly have unknown functions. Transposon mutants showed a macrophage phenotype for m139, whereas m142 was possibly essential for viral replication. Genes m139-m141 and m142-m143 have complex transcriptional regions and have 3´-coterminal transcripts. The insertion of a 3-kb large transposon could destabilize the upstream transcripts. Site-directed mutants of genes m139 and m142, where only the start codon is deleted, should not influence transcript stability and permit confirmation of the results obtained with transposon mutagenesis. Targeted mutants of MCMV BAC were constructed for ORF m139 (ΔATG-m139) and m142 (ΔATG-m142, ΔATG-m142/FRT) by homologous recombination using linear DNA fragments. Mutant ΔATG-m139 showed attenuated growth in peritoneal macrophages. This mutant, with the first two ATGs deleted, expressed a truncated protein of 61 kDa. Gene m139 seems to act in cooperation with genes m140 and m141 on the protein level. The site-directed MCMV BAC mutant of ORF m142 on the other hand could not reconstitute viral progeny in eukaryotic cells. The ORF of m142 was inserted an ectopic position and viral progeny was reconstituted with this revertant. Thus, it was shown that gene m142 is essential for viral replication. Further analysis of nonessential and essential genes of cytomegalovirus will be needed to understand CMV viral pathology and to develop vaccines for herpesvirus infection and vectors for gene therapy.

Herpesviruses cause highly prevalent infections associated with usually mild symptoms resulting in life long latency. However, they can provoke fatal disease in susceptible individuals such as immunocompromised patients either in the context of primary infection or after reactivation from latency. Despite of their emerging medical importance, herpesvirus infections can so far only be controlled by antiviral therapy targeting viral DNA replication, accompanied with side effects and occurrence of resistant strains. In this work, a novel platform for drug discovery was established that is based on a protein complementation assay (PCA), which can be used to study viral protein-protein interactions in a simple cell based assay. In a PCA two inactive fragments of a reporter enzyme are fused to two interacting proteins. Interaction of the proteins leads to proximity of the enzyme fragments, followed by reconstitution of the reporter enzyme activity. Members of the UL34 and UL31 families are conserved herpesvirus proteins. They interact with one another forming the nuclear egress complex (NEC), which is essential for the export of viral capsids from the cell nucleus. This crucial protein-protein interaction might serve as a potential drug target for anti-herpesvirus chemotherapy. In this work the mutual binding sites of the two proteins were localized and studied for their conservation. A PCA was established for M50 and M53 – the NEC proteins of the murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) - by fusion of the N- and C-terminal part of the TEM-1 ß-lactamase of E. coli. The assay was validated and applied to representative members of the three herpesvirus subfamilies. Cross-complementation assays showed that partners derived from the same subfamily can replace each other in the PCA, however, homologues from different subfamilies can not. This cross-complementation reflects the in vivo situation: the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), but not the HSV-1 or PrV homologues are able to rescue the M50 or M53 null phenotype in the viral context of MCMV. The lack of complementation between the subfamilies is due to their diverged binding sites, which are located in all cases within the first conserved region of the UL31 family proteins. The study of the binding site in UL34 family members revealed a bipartite binding motif. With the aim of a future high-throughput inhibitor screen an in vitro NEC-PCA was established using purified fusion proteins of HCMV.