The Anti-Apoptotic Effect of HSV-1 on Murine Macrophages: RAW 246.7 Murine Macrophage Cell Line

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a worldwide pathogen that affects humans and has the ability to establish a latent state of infection in the sensory nerve ganglia after primary infection of epithelial cells (Boutell and Everett, 2003). HSV-1 is a very contagious virus, which can be transmitted from person to person and cause cold sores in the infected person. Rarely, infection can lead to more serious complications, such as encephalitis. Most HSV-1 infections usually occur in childhood with lifelong potential for symptomatic or asymptomatic viral shedding episodes (Looker et al., 2015). HSV- 1 infects 60%-80% of people throughout the world (Cunningham et al., 2006). The purpose of this study was to examine the anti-apoptotic effect of HSV-1 on polarized and un-polarized RAW 246.7 murine at 4, 12, and 24 hours. We found that viability of M1 macrophages was significantly decreased compared to control cells at 4 hours (p-value\u3c0.016), 12 hours (p-value\u3c0.001), and 24 hours (p-value\u3c0.001). Virus-infected M1 macrophages showed a significant increase in cell viability compare to uninfected M1 macrophages at 24 hours (P = 0.025). The percentage of late apoptotic cells in all cell groups (M0, M1, and M2) exhibited a significant decrease after infection with HSV-1 at 4 and 24 hours