Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a painful neuropathic complication resulting from herpes zoster (HZ). The pain manifests in peripheral nerves infected by herpesviruses, mostly from reactivation of latent varicella zoster virus. Mechanistic descriptions suggest that PHN develops because of disrupted immune system signaling and inflammation or peripheral nerve damage; however, the pathophysiology is not clear. It is difficult to predict/prevent PHN manifestations of HZ patients due to the lack of accurate diagnostics. In this study, sera from healthy controls, HZ patients, and PHN patients were subjected to an interferon (IFN) expression profile (IEP) study. The corresponding cDNAs were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) using primer pairs against a panel of 21 different IFN subtypes. The results showed that distinct IEPs were observed among HZ and PHN cohorts in comparison to the healthy controls. Together, this pilot study suggested that the IEP study may be used as a molecular tool for diagnosis of PHN and assist in designing new PHN therapeutic protocols.

中文翻译：

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带状疱疹或带状疱疹后神经痛患者干扰素亚型表达谱的初步分析

带状疱疹后神经痛 (PHN) 是一种由带状疱疹 (HZ) 引起的疼痛性神经性并发症。疼痛表现在被疱疹病毒感染的周围神经中，主要来自潜伏的水痘带状疱疹病毒的再激活。机制描述表明，PHN 的发展是由于免疫系统信号传导和炎症或周围神经损伤的破坏；然而，病理生理学尚不清楚。由于缺乏准确的诊断，很难预测/预防 HZ 患者的 PHN 表现。在这项研究中，来自健康对照、HZ 患者和 PHN 患者的血清接受了干扰素 (IFN) 表达谱 (IEP) 研究。使用针对一组 21 种不同 IFN 亚型的引物对，通过定量逆转录聚合酶链反应 (qRT-PCR) 分析相应的 cDNA。结果表明，与健康对照组相比，在 HZ 和 PHN 队列中观察到不同的 IEP。总之，这项初步研究表明 IEP 研究可用作诊断 PHN 的分子工具，并有助于设计新的 PHN 治疗方案。