title: Immune response to maedi-visna virus.
abstract: The ovine maedi-visna virus (MVV) was the first lentivirus to be isolated and characterized 1957 in Iceland. MVV leads to a life-long, persistent infection with slow development of lesions in the lung and the central nervous system (CNS). The main target cells of MVV are of the monocyte/macrophage lineage and it does not infect T-lymphocytes or cause immune suppression like human immune deficiency virus (HIV). In spite of a fairly good immune response, including both neutralizing antibodies and cytotoxic T lymphocytes, the virus persists in the host and establishes a life-long infection. There are strong indications that the pathological lesions are immune-mediated and vaccination attempts have not only failed to induce sterile immunity but have occasionally caused increased viremia and more severe disease.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Experimental Pathology, University of Iceland, Keldur vid Vesturlandsveg, IS112 Reykjavik, Iceland. sibbath@hi.is
authors.forename: Sigurbjorg
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Torsteinsdottir
authors.forename: Valgerdur
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Andresdottir
authors.forename: Hallgrimur
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arnarson
authors.forename: Gudmundur
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Petursson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D011021:Pneumonia, Progressive Interstitial, of Sheep / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D012756:Sheep; D014765:Viral Vaccines; D016182:Visna / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D014790:Visna-maedi virus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D014765:Viral Vaccines