LAT and disease arising from reactivation of latent virus: Given the fact that LAT is the only viral gene expressed during latent infection in neurons, functioning as a primary miRNA precursor for encoding more than 50% of functionally important HSV-1 miRNAs, we supposed that LAT transcript could be responsible for the inhibition of SMAD-mediated TGF-β signaling observed in HSV-1-infected cells.