IMPORTANCEHerpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a ubiquitous virus and a significant cause of morbidity and some mortality. It is the causative agent of benign cold sores, but it can also cause blindness and life-threatening encephalitis. The success of HSV-1 is largely due to its ability to establish lifelong latent infections in neurons and to occasionally reactivate. The exact mechanisms by which neurons defend against virus infection is poorly understood, but such defense is at least partially mediated by autophagy, an intracellular pathway by which pathogens and other unwanted cargoes are degraded. The study demonstrates and investigates a new autophagic structure that appears to be specific to the interaction between neurotropic herpesviruses and murine primary sensory neurons. This work may therefore have important implications for our understanding of latency and reactivation.
Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) is a highly prevalent human pathogen that establishes lifelong infection in the neurons of sensory and autonomic ganglia (1, 2). Initial infection and lytic replication at mucosal sites are followed by infection of innervating axonal termini of sensory neurons. Virions then travel in a retrograde direction to the soma, where they may replicate or immediately establish latency, depending partly on the infected neuronal subtype (3). Virions resulting from periodic reactivation events travel in an anterograde direction along the axon, allowing reinfection of the oral epithelium, thereby facilitating viral shedding and host-to-host transmission (2).Innate immune responses are critical in controlling virulence of HSV-1 and many other viruses through a variety of antiviral pathways (4-12), and viruses have coevolved to counter these host responses (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). Cells detect the presence of incoming virus through pattern recognition receptors (21, 22) that, in turn, lead to the activation of pivotal transcription factors such as IRF (5, 23) and NF-B (24). These factors subsequently induce the production of type I interferon (IFN), which drives IFN-stimulated gene (ISG) expression (25) through a JAK-STAT-dependent pathway (26,27). This further stimulates production of type I IFN and ISGs to establish an antiviral state that consists of transcriptional and translational arrest, cytokine production, and apoptosis (28,29).Defects in innate immunity are often associated with increased susceptibility to HSV infection in both mice and humans, with frequent neurological sequelae (8,12,(30)(31)(32). That said, the IFNdriven responses of neurons themselves are muted and atypical (12,33). Nondestructive clearance is especially critical for postmitotic adult neurons, a population of irreplaceable cells that is essential for both the success and survival of the host. Indeed, there is mounting evidence that neurons depend on autophagy rather than inflammatory or cell-destructive responses for the control of intracellular pathogens (34-37). Autophagy is a highly conserved response to starvation, during...