STP and Tip are essential for herpesvirus saimiri oncogenicity.
Mutant forms of herpesvirus saimiri (HVS) subgroup C strain 488 with deletions in either STP-C488 or Tip were constructed. The transforming potentials of the HVS mutants were tested in cell culture and in common marmosets. Parental HVS subgroup C strain 488 immortalized common marmoset T lymphocytes in vitro to interleukin-2-independent growth, but neither of the deletion mutants produced such growth transformation. Wild-type HVS produced fatal lymphoma within 19 to 20 days of experimental infection of common marmosets, while HVS deltaSTP-C488 and HVS deltaTip were nononcogenic. Virus was repeatedly isolated from the peripheral blood of marmosets infected with mutant virus for more than 5 months. These results demonstrate that STP-C488 and Tip are not required for replication or persistence, but each is essential for transformation in cell culture and for lymphoma induction in common marmosets.
Duboise
S M
SM
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, New England Regional Primate Research Center, Harvard Medical School, Southborough, Massachusetts 01772-9102, USA.
Guo
J
J
Czajak
S
S
Desrosiers
R C
RC
Jung
J U
JU
D000818:Animals; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005814:Genes, Viral; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*; D006567:Herpesvirus 2, Saimiriine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology*; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000821:virology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral; D010750:Phosphoproteins; C072817:STP-C488 protein, Herpesvirus saimiri; D014764:Viral Proteins; C092384:tyrosine kinase interacting protein, Saimiriine herpesvirus 2