[en] Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) belongs to the alphaherpesvirus family and shares many important structural and functional similarities with other members of the family such as herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). VZV is responsible for two different clinical syndromes, varicella which is the result of the primary infection and zoster which is due to virus reactivation remaining latent in the peripheral nervous system. VZV DNA is 124,884 base pair long and encodes four regulatory proteins (IE4, IE61, IE62 and IE63). Using transient expression systems, we have shown that IE4, IE62 and IE63 can regulate the expression of an indicator gene driven by various VZV promoter regions, demonstrating that these proteins play important roles in the infectious cycle.
