Characterisation of penciclovir resistant acyclovir sensitive herpes simplex virus type 2 isolated from an AIDS patient

✍ Scribed by Mercedes Pardeiro; Manuel Cuenca-Estrella; Miguel A. Fernández-Clúa; Francisco Santos-O'Connor; Enrique Tabarés; Ignacio Gadea

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 80 KB
• Volume: 73
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.20061

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A heterogeneous herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV‐2) population was characterised from an AIDS patient with relapsing genital ulcer. The isolate had an unusual antiviral spectrum, showing resistance to penciclovir and susceptibility to acyclovir. Two viral populations were plaque purified, one resistant and the other susceptible to both antiviral drugs. The resistant clone was deficient in thymidine kinase (TK) activity and a nucleotide substitution, thymine for cytosine, at position 153 was identified in its TK gene. This mutation resulted in an amino acid change, arginine to tryptophan, in the ATP binding site. In the deficient mutant, a loss of virulence was observed in mice. J. Med. Virol. 73:60–64, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.