Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 establishes a latent infection in mouse B lymphocytes in vivo.
Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV-68) is able to persist in spleen cells of infected mice. To determine the cell type harbouring persistent virus, spleen cells from infected animals were separated into immunoglobulin (Ig)-positive (B cell-enriched), Ig-negative (T cell-enriched) and plastic-adherent (macrophage-enriched) fractions. These cells were co-cultivated with permissive BHK-21 cells in an infectious centre assay. The consistent recovery and enrichment of infectious centres in the Ig-positive fraction clearly demonstrates that B cells are a major site of virus persistence/latency. This observation indicates that MHV-68 is biologically similar to Epstein-Barr virus and other members of the B cell lymphotropic gammaherpesvirus 1 subgroup.
Sunil-Chandra
N P
NP
Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, U.K.
Efstathiou
S
S
Nash
A A
AA
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology*; D002469:Cell Separation; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology