REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Molecular Innate Immunity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1658579
Tug of War: Innate Immunity and Herpes Simplex Keratitis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, United States
- 2Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, United States
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Herpes simplex keratitis (HSK), caused by herpes simplex virus type I (HSV-1) ocular infection, is a leading cause of visual morbidity worldwide, and although cases of HSK can be managed with current medications, new developments are required to make treatments more effective and satisfactory. Current evidence suggests that corneal scarring and vascularization result from chronic inflammation triggered by HSV-1 antigens. The pathogenesis of HSK remains complex and incompletely understood, but there have been many recent advancements have improved our knowledge of HSV-1 and its interactions with the host immune system, particularly in regard to various signaling pathways and regulators. In this review, we discuss the roles of innate immunity in corneal epithelial cells and innate immune cells, DNA sensors and regulators of DNA sensing pathways in HSK caused by acute and recurrent HSV-1 ocular infection and present potential immune-based therapeutic targets for novel HSK treatments.
Keywords: Herpes simplex keratitis (HSK), Herpes simplex virus type I (HSV-1), innate immunity, DNA sensor, Therapeutic treatment
Received: 02 Jul 2025; Accepted: 15 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nguyen, Jacobs, Mohanram, Hammons and Xing. 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: Junji Xing, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, United States
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