DISTRIBUTION OF VARICELLA-ZOSTER VIRUS GPI AND GPII AND CORRESPONDINGGENOME SEQUENCES IN THE SKIN

In the course of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection, some viral ca psid antigens are found in the epidermis and dermis. The aim of this s tudy was to investigate the localisation of two major VZV glycoprotein s (gpI and gpII) and of their respective genes in the skin. The distri bution of VZV gpI and II in 27 formalin fixed paraffin embedded skin b iopsies from herpes tester eruptions were compared by immunohistochemi stry. Double immunostaining was carried our to identify infected cells . The presence of viral nucleic acids coding for gpI and gpII was exam ined by in situ hybridisation. The distribution of gpI and gpII and th eir corresponding genome sequences was similar in the epidermis, gpI a nd gpII were also detected in dermal FXIIIa positive dendrocytes, in M ac 387 and CD68 positive macrophages, and in perineural and endothelia l cells. However, the corresponding viral nucleic acids were rarely an d barely detected in these cells of the dermis. It is concluded that V ZV infection of epithelial cells follows a different course than in de rmal cells. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.