x
Breaking News
More () »

UA scientist launches herpes study

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says one in six people in the U.S. age 14 to 19 have genital herpes.
Credit: 12 News
12 News Arizona News

The National Institutes of Health is looking into research coming from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix into a protein and its relation to the herpes viral infection of the female reproductive tract.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one out of six people in the United States aged 14 to 49 have genital herpes caused by the HSV-2 infection (the herpes simplex virus often responsible for genital herpes).

Dr. Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz, a faculty member in the college's Department of Basic Medical Sciences at the downtown Phoenix medical school, has received a grant from the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to investigate the role of a protein in the female reproductive tract that is related to inflammation and may play a role in genital herpes disease development.

This R15 Academic Research Enhancement Award grant is the first received at the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix.

The genital herpes simplex virus type 2 infection is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in the world. The CDC says 15.5 percent of Americans between the ages of 14 and 49 have a herpes type 2 infection. The CDC also says herpes type 2 infection is twice as common for women than men.

Herbst-Kralovetz said she hopes her research will lead to a better understanding of the specific protein's role and lead to ways to treat or prevent genital herpes virus infection.

She said there has been little research into the protein and its physiological function other than it has shown to have a role in the chronic inflammatory disorders of the skin, such as psoriasis.

"The same inflammatory process may be occurring in the female reproductive tract, leading to the spread of the virus, which also can predispose to other reproductive infections including human immunodeficiency virus," Herbst-Kralovetz said. "Our study could start the process of stopping and preventing those infections by better understanding the function of this protein."

Before You Leave, Check This Out