Alzheimer’s disease cure may come from cold sore virus

British researchers have discovered that the virus causing cold sores (herpes simplex virus type 1) is also the primary reason why amyloid plaques are found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients.

The research may one day lead to a way to effectively treat AD patients and prevent the disease from ever taking away memories.

Ruth F. Itzhaki, from the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester, UK, led the research, which also included Matthew A. Wozniak (also from the University of Manchester) and A. P. Mee (from the Department of Medicine, Manchester Royal Informary, UK, and now with the Directorate of Laboratory Medicine, CMMC, UK).

Their paper “Herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA is located within Alzheimer’s disease amyloid plaques” appears in The Journal of Pathology. In it, the three researchers state: “The brains of Alzheimer’s disease sufferers are characterised by amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. However, the cause(s) of these features and those of the disease are unknown, in sporadic cases.”

They added: “We previously showed that herpes simplex virus type 1 [HSV-1] is a strong risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease when in the brains of possessors of the type 4 allele of the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE- 4), and that  B-amyloid, the main component of plaques, accumulates in herpes simplex virus type 1-infected cell cultures and mouse brain.”