Enhanced in vitro reactivation of herpes simplex virus type 2 from latently infected guinea-pig neural tissues by 5-azacytidine.

5-Azacytidine (5-AZC) reduces cytosine methylation in DNA and has been reported to activate quiescent virus genes. Treatment of explant cultures of latently herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2)-infected guinea-pig dorsal root ganglia and spinal cords in vitro with 5-AZC significantly enhanced the rate of HSV recovery. Both the number of isolates from ganglia (P less than 0.001) and the rate of recovery (P less than 0.001) were significantly increased with the addition of 50 microM-5-AZC to explant cultures. Increased virus recovery appeared to be due to the induction of reactivation of latent virus, rather than an increase in replication, since 5-AZC inhibited HSV replication. These data support a role for methylation in HSV latency and reactivation.