Abstract
Ocular herpesviruses, most notably human alphaherpesvirus 1 (HSV-1), canid alphaherpesvirus 1 (CHV-1) and felid alphaherpesvirus 1 (FHV-1), infect and cause severe disease that may lead to blindness. CHV-1 and FHV-1 have a pathogenesis and induce clinical disease in their hosts that is similar to HSV-1 ocular infections in humans, suggesting that infection of dogs and cats with CHV-1 and FHV-1, respectively, can be used as a comparative natural host model of herpesvirus-induced ocular disease. In this review, we discuss both strengths and limitations of the various available model systems to study ocular herpesvirus infection, with a focus on the use of these non-traditional virus-natural host models. Recent work has demonstrated the robustness and reproducibility of experimental ocular herpesvirus infections in dogs and cats, and, therefore, these non-traditional models can provide additional insights into the pathogenesis of ocular herpesvirus infections.
Highlights
Herpesviruses commonly infect and can cause ocular disease in a variety of species (Table 1).The prevalence of persistent infections that result in the presentation of ocular disease, is difficult to determine as it varies dramatically based on the population surveyed and the study methodology
Ocular diseases caused by human alphaherpesvirus 1 (HSV-1), canid alphaherpesvirus 1 (CHV-1) and felid alphaherpesvirus 1 (FHV-1) are among the most common causes of clinical herpesvirus-associated ocular disease and can lead to ocular pain, tissue destruction and blindness in severe cases [1,2,3]
Due to the striking similarities in pathogenesis of HSV-1, CHV-1 and FHV-1, studies in dogs and cats are proposed as valuable virus-natural host models to study the pathogenesis of human herpesvirus infections of the eye [2,5,8,9]
Summary
Herpesviruses commonly infect and can cause ocular disease in a variety of species (Table 1). Ocular diseases caused by human alphaherpesvirus 1 (HSV-1), canid alphaherpesvirus 1 (CHV-1) and felid alphaherpesvirus 1 (FHV-1) are among the most common causes of clinical herpesvirus-associated ocular disease and can lead to ocular pain, tissue destruction and blindness in severe cases [1,2,3]. The pathogenesis of these viruses is very similar and has been reviewed extensively [2,3,4,5,6]. Due to the striking similarities in pathogenesis of HSV-1, CHV-1 and FHV-1, studies in dogs and cats are proposed as valuable virus-natural host models to study the pathogenesis of human herpesvirus infections of the eye [2,5,8,9]
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