title: Detection and characterization of measles virus strains in cases of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis in Croatia.
abstract: Two cases of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), diagnosed in Croatia in 2002, were investigated. The coding regions of the matrix (M), hemagglutinin (H) and nucleoprotein (N) genes of measles virus were sequenced following direct RT-PCR amplification of viral RNA extracted from brain tissue. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences of H and N genes, showed that both strains belonged to genotype D6. No vaccine strain was detected although both patients had been previously immunized. The comparison of analyzed sequences of two SSPE causative viruses with corresponding sequences of D6 genotype and with each other revealed a number of mutations in N and H gene sequences. In comparison to the Edmonston reference strain, the M gene of the SSPE viruses showed the characteristic biased hypermutation and a premature termination codon in one of the patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Immunology Inc., Rockefellerova 10, Zagreb 10000, Croatia. dforcic@imz.hr
authors.forename: Dubravko
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Forcić
authors.forename: Marijana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baricević
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zgorelec
authors.forename: Vjekoslava
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kruzić
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kaić
authors.forename: Branka Marusić Della
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Marina
authors.forename: Ljerka Cvitanović
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Sojat
authors.forename: Goran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tesović
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mazuran
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000821:virology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018389:Codon, Nonsense; D017523:Croatia; D005260:Female; D005814:Genes, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008459:Measles virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D017354:Point Mutation; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013344:Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis / Q000821:virology*; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018389:Codon, Nonsense; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral; C119679:M protein, SSPE virus; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; C058314:nucleoprotein, Measles virus