The Correlation Research Between Herpes Zoster Viral Load And S100β, NSE

Objective: Herpes zoster(HZ) is a virus dermatosis caused by varicella zoster virus(VZV), and characterized by nerve inflammation and skin herpes. Herpes zoster may be accompanied by varying degrees of nerve injury. Research has shown that VZV viral load is associated with the severity of the clinical manifestations, but the relevance with the nerve injury is still unclear. S100β protein and neuron specific enolase(NSE) are important factors which used for early evalua- tion of nerve injury and prognosis, but so far, there is no research between Herpes zoster and S100β, NSE. In this study, VZV DNA, S100β, NSE were measured in acute herpes zoster patients before and after treatment, to explore the relationship between VZV DNA and S100β,NSE in serum, and to provide the theoretical basis for early evaluation of nerve injury level and prognosis, and early prevention of herpes zoster neurological complications and postherpetic neuralgia(PHN).Methods: 50 cases of hospitalized patients with HZ in the acute phase(25 cases of head and neck parts, 25 cases of the other parts) were collected as HZ group and 20 cases of healthy blood donors were collected as normal control group. There were 26 cases of male and 24 cases of female in HZ group. The HZ patients were followed up after they left hospital for 1 months. There were 10 cases of male and 10 cases of female in normal control group. The degree of disease was recorded by the HZ disease scoring criteria. The degree of disease was divided into 3 levels according to disease scores: mild(<6 points) 、medium(6 points to 12 points) and serious(>12 points). All the patients was taken 200μl vesicular fluid,and 8ml elbow vein blood before and after 10 to 14 days treatment. The viral load was examined by real-time quantitative PCR. S100β, NSE content in serum was detected by ELISA. The comparation and correlation analysis included head-neck parts and the other parts, before and after treatment, whether developing into PHN.Results:1.Disease score: Among 50 HZ patients before treatment, 8 patients were mild, 28 patients were medium, 14 patients were serious; after treatment, 42 patients were medium, 8 examples were medium.2.VZV DNA load: There were 50 cases detected VZV in vesicles, average for 374879.34±117681.59(copies/ml).There were 18 cases detected VZV in blood before treatment, average for 18974.45±28301.88(copies/ml).There were 5 cases detected VZV in blood after treatment, average for 239.91±872.25(copies /ml). There was no case detected VZV in normal control group.3. The comparison of S100β, NSE content in serum:In HZ group, the S100β, NSE content in serum before treatment respectively were 161.62 ±21.47(pg/m L), 160.91±20.31(pg/m L). In HZ group, the S100β, NSE content in serum after treatment respectively were 63.29±13.62(pg/m L), 36.40±9.09(pg/m L). In normal control group, the S100β, NSE content in serum respectively were 48.86±5.14(pg/m L), 7.37±5.13(pg/m L). The S100β, NSE content in HZ group before and after treatment were both higher than that in normal control group(P <0.05).In HZ group,the S100β, NSE content after treatment were lower than that before treatment(P< 0.05).4.The comparison of serum S100β,NSE content in different parts before and after treatment: Before treatment, the serum S100β, NSE content in head-neck parts were higher than that in other parts(P <0.05). After treatment, the serum S100β, NSE content in head-neck parts were higher than that in other parts, but without statistic difference(P>0.05).5.The comparison of PHN and non-PHN patients: In HZ group, There were 6 cases of who develop into PHN after leaving hospital for 1 months, the incidence of PHN is 12%. Before treatment, the disease scores,VZV DNA load in vesicles, VZV DNA in blood of PHN patients were higher than that of non-PHN patients(P <0.05). Before treatment, the serum S100β, NSE content of PHN patients were higher than that of non-PHN patients, but without statistic difference(P>0.05). After treatment, the disease scores, VZV DNA load in blood, the serum S100β, NSE content of PHN patients were higher than that of non-PHN patients(P <0.05).6.Correlation analysis: VZV DNA load in vesicles in acute HZ patients had positive correlation with disease score, S100β and NSE content in serum(r=0.908, P<0.05; r=0.535, P<0.05; r=0.430, P<0.05 respectively). There was no significant correlation between the VZV DNA load in blood and VZV DNA load in vesicles, S100β and NSE content in serum.Conclusions:1.The expression of serum S100β and NSE in acute HZ patients has the elevated levels, which prompt that acute HZ patients have nerve injury, and serum S100β, NSE can be used as nerve injury assessment and prognostic indicators, especially in head-neck parts.2.After treatment, the acute HZ patients with higher VZV DNA load, disease score, higher expression of serum S100β and NSE were more likely to occur PHN, and they have certain value for predicting the occurrence of PHN.3.In acute HZ patients, the higher VZV DNA load in vesicles, the heavier the illness, has the higher expression of serum S100β and NSE.