Role of genotypic analysis of the thymidine kinase gene of herpes simplex virus for determination of neurovirulence and resistance to acyclovir.

Mutations in the thymidine kinase (TK) gene of herpes simplex virus (HSV) have been associated with resistance to acyclovir (ACY) and possible recognition of neurotropic strains. We sequenced a 335-bp segment of the TK gene to determine the frequency of mutations in HSV strains recovered from dermal, genital, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens (n = 200; 102 HSV type 1 [HSV-1] 98 HSV-2 strains). Four polymorphic sites were detected in HSV-1 strains; C513T, A528G, C575T, and C672T. Among the polymorphisms, only C575T resulted in a change of amino acid sequence (residue 192, Ala-->Val). For HSV-2 strains, only one polymorphism (G420T) which resulted in an amino acid substitution (residue 139, Leu-->Phe) was detected. Phenotypic determination of resistance to ACY by a plaque reduction assay of 48 HSV isolates was not correlated with the sequence results of 11 strains in that 7 of these with genotypic polymorphisms were susceptible to the drug in vitro. In addition, of 32 ACY-resistant HSV strains, 28 (87.5%) had no polymorphisms detected in the 335-bp amplicon of the TK gene. There was no statistical difference in the frequency of polymorphisms according to the source of the specimens. We conclude that the detection of nucleic acid polymorphisms in a previously implicated 335-bp segment of the TK gene cannot be interpreted as indicative of either ACY resistance or neurotropism of HSV strains from dermal, genital, and CSF sources.