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Main article: Viruses
Why cold sores are incurable
Herpes and chickenpox are particularly adept at hiding from the immune system inside the host. Both viruses can take refuge in nerve cells (where it is much more difficult for the immune system to find and destroy them) or in other places where immunity cannot find them.
This is not unusual for viruses, since another example that we mentioned (chickenpox) hides very well in the nerves (and HIV, for example, can hide inside red blood cells).
Plus, herpes is a retrovirus (RNA-containing viruses). That is, when trying to get rid of herpes, it needs to be somehow isolated from the carrier's DNA, which is not possible.
History
2025
The mechanism of herpes development of the lip is revealed. Now it can be prevented
An international team of scientists discovered the mechanism of development of the herpes simplex virus of the first type and identified a potential way to prevent infection before its transition to the latent stage. The researchers established that the virus hijacks human cell enzymes for its own reproduction, and blocking these enzymes can stop the development of the disease. The results of the work are published in June 2025.
According to Nature, the study was conducted under the guidance of virologist Esther Gonzalez-Almela from the Academy of Medical Sciences of Guangdong Province in China. Scientists focused on studying the lytic cycle of the virus - the active phase of reproduction that precedes the transition to a latent state.
Lip herpes affects more than 60% of the world's population under the age of 50. After primary infection, the herpes simplex virus of the first type can be in the body for decades in an inactive state, hiding in nerve cells. This ensures that the infection persists for life and creates serious difficulties for a complete cure with existing antiviral drugs.
Esther Gonzalez-Almela explained that in order to completely eliminate the virus, it is necessary to prevent its transition to a latent state, since in this phase it is protected by the human body's own mechanisms. According to her, the most effective fight against the virus is possible precisely during the lytic cycle.
During the study, scientists discovered that the HSV-1 virus hijacks two key enzymes of the host cell - RNA polymerase II and topoisomerase 1. These proteins play a critical role in the transcription and replication processes of viral genes. If topoisomerase 1 is blocked, virus reproduction stops completely.
For the study, ultra-high-resolution microscopy methods were used, which made it possible to study in detail viral replication compartments - areas of the cellular nucleus where viral genetic information is reproduced. The scientists demonstrated the physical interaction of viral DNA with the host cell genome at transcriptionally active sites.[1]
Herpes virus radically alters human cell genome
The herpes virus, when entering the cell, radically changes the three-dimensional structure of its genome, reducing the nuclear volume it occupies by about three times. Blocking this process completely prevents infection of the cell, which can be used to create medicines for herpes. The discovery was made by molecular biologists from China and Spain on June 19, 2025.
According to News-Medical, the press service of the Spanish Center for Genomic Regulation announced the results of a comprehensive study of the early phases of cell infection with the HSV-1 virus. This is the most common form of herpes with a genome of about 152 thousand nucleotides long.
Professor of the Center for Genomic Regulation Pia Cosma said that the suppression of the enzyme TOP1 completely stops the propagation of the pathogen even before the formation of the first viral particles. Cosma emphasized the great potential of discovery to create new methods to combat herpes and stop infection.
Biologists have long been interested in the process of assembling new copies of HSV-1 due to the long length of its genome. The size of the genetic material imposes serious restrictions on the possible place and speed of preparation of new copies of the virus genome.
To observe the process, scientists grew a culture of human cells whose threads DNA were labeled with special luminous tags. The use of labels made it possible to trace changes in the structure, location and properties of DNA in cells several hours after the penetration of viral particles.
Observations unexpectedly showed that the entry of the virus into cells is accompanied by a complete rearrangement of their genome and a decrease in the volume occupied by it by about 70%. A similar radical transformation occurs in the first hours after infection.
Biologists suggest that changes in the structure of cellular DNA "clear" the place inside the nucleus to form new copies of the viral genome. The process also promotes the assembly of protein molecules important for viral reproduction.[2]
2023: Herpes zoster vaccine announcement
In March 2023, it became known that the Russian pharmaceutical company Nanolek"" began to create the country's first zoster vaccine. herpes Work is underway in the Pushchino science city near Moscow, where the company opened the Research and Development Center in 2021. More. here
2022: Russia launched the production of medical probes for the search for herpes for 75 million rubles
Pharmmedpolis RT has launched a medical probe in Tatarstan to diagnose the Epstein-Barr human herpes virus. Funds for the creation of a new production in the amount of 75 million rubles were provided by the Industrial Development Fund (FRP), which his press service announced on September 26, 2022. Read more here.
2020: Herpes virus genome decoded
At the end of April 2020, British and German scientists reported that they were able to decipher the type 1 herpes genome. The published materials say that the genetic sequence of HSV-1 is "significantly more complex than previously thought."
During the decoding of DNA, experts came to the conclusion that they underestimated the number of so-called open reading frames (ORF - nucleotide sequences in DNA, potentially capable of encoding a protein ). Experts said that their number is approaching 300, and not 80, as expected.
Geneticists explained that the coding capacity of three other herpesviruses, namely human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), is significantly greater than previously thought. For the first two, in particular, hundreds of viral gene products have been identified. These viruses have also been found to encode hundreds of short reading frames of unknown function. Like their cellular counterparts, they can either regulate the translation of viral gene products or encode functional viral polypeptides.
By the end of April 2020, there is no vaccine for herpes. Therefore, a person remains infected with the virus throughout his life. Dölken and his colleagues took a big step towards creating a vaccine against HHV1, as well as its safe use to destroy some types of cancer tumors, decoding and studying the genome of this subspecies of the virus with an accuracy of one "letter" -nucleotide.
 | The new results now allow you to study individual genes of the virus in much more detail than before, - quoted in a press release from the Julius and Maximilian University of Würzburg (JMU) in Bavaria , the words of the head of the study, professor at the Department of Virology Lars Dölken[3] |  |
Ocular herpes
Notes
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