Participation of Type I Interferon in the Decreased Virulence of the UL13 Gene-Deleted Mutant of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1

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Abstract
We isolated a UL13 gene-deleted mutant of the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) strain VR3 (VRΔ13) and its revertant virus (VRΔ13R). This deletion mutant still had virus host shutoff (vhs) activity, although a previous report had suggested the possibility of a functional relation between the UL13 product, that is protein kinase (PK), and vhs activity. We compared the in vivo growth of these viruses in BALB/c mice. VRΔ13 was cleared in the early period of intraperitoneal infection. VRΔ13 had a higher sensitivity to the mouse type I interferon (IFN) and showed a higher level of IFN induction in the study period of infection than did VR3 and VRΔ13R. These results suggest that a nonspecific antiviral response (i.e., the IFN system) may contribute to this rapid inhibition of viral replication in vivo.