Male and female WT mice exhibited similar levels of HVEM expression during HSV-1 infection after corneal inoculation on dpi 5 and 14 and on immune cells, and male and female HVEM KO mice lacked HVEM expression, as expected (data not shown).The early response to infection while the virus is still actively replicating consists of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN), mainly neutrophils, and is known as the acute inflammatory phase of infection. This evidence concerns the gene TNFRSF14 and infection.