关于疱疹病毒感染的传统观点是，它们要么是活跃的和有害的，要么顶多是潜伏的、只是眼下无害。但对小鼠所做的新的研究表明还存在第三种情况：它们可能对慢性疱疹病毒感染有一个直接的好处。该研究结果发表在最新一期的《自然》杂志上。
被鼠类γHV68潜伏感染后，实验鼠会对各种不同的细菌病原体、包括李斯特菌（Listeria）和鼠疫杆菌（plaguebacillus）产生长时间的交叉保护。这种保护是由γ-干扰素诱发的系统巨噬细胞激发的结果。潜伏的病毒因此会确定先天免疫的水平。潜伏状态不仅是一种活跃的免疫状态，而且这种活性还能提供共生好处。
FIGURE 1. Macrophages are activated during HV68 latency.
a–f, Peritoneal macrophages from mock (a, c, e) or latently infected (b, d, f) mice. a, b, Wright's Giemsa stain. Scale bar, 25 m. c, d, Surface class II MHC levels on F4/80+ peritoneal macrophages (arrow) in mock-infected mice (57 14 (mean fluorescence intensity s.e.m.); n = 23) compared with latently infected mice (1,363 144; n = 18). e, f, Ex vivo bactericidal activity of peritoneal macrophages at the indicated times. P values, calculated using the Mann–Whitney rank sum test, compare latently infected and mock-infected mice at the same time points. Data are representative of two to five independent experiments. c.f.u, colony-forming units. Horizontal bars indicate the arithmetic mean of log-transformed data.
