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REVIEW article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Infectious Agents and Disease
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1505191
This article is part of the Research Topic Herpesvirus: Transmission, Pathogenesis, Host-Pathogen Interaction, Prevention and Treatment View all 3 articles

Identifying the key regulators orchestrating Epstein-Barr virus reactivation

Provisionally accepted
Yaohao Wang Yaohao Wang Jingwen Yu Jingwen Yu Yonggang Pei Yonggang Pei *
  • Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects more than 90% of the human population worldwide and establishes lifelong infection in hosts by switching between latent and lytic infection. EBV latency can be reactivated under appropriate conditions, leading to expression of the viral lytic genes and production of infectious progeny viruses. EBV reactivation involves crosstalk between various factors and signaling pathways, and the subsequent complicated virus-host interplays determine whether EBV continues to propagate. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying these processes remain unclear. In this review, we summarize the critical factors regulating EBV reactivation and the associated mechanisms. This encompasses the transcription and posttranscriptional regulation of immediate-early (IE) genes, the functions of viral factors on viral DNA replication and progeny virus production, the mechanisms through which viral proteins disrupt and inhibit the host's innate immune response, and the host factors that modulate EBV reactivation. Finally, we explore the potential applications of novel technologies in studying EBV reactivation, providing novel insights into the investigation of mechanisms governing EBV reactivation and the development of anti-EBV therapeutic strategies.

    Keywords: Epstein-Barr virus, virus-host interaction, Reactivation, Immediate-Early Proteins, regulation, novel insights

    Received: 02 Oct 2024; Accepted: 14 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Yu and Pei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yonggang Pei, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.