Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 glycoprotein 150 does not contribute to latency amplification in vivo.
BACKGROUND
Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV-68) is used as a model to study the function of gammaherpesvirus glycoproteins. gp150 of MHV-68, encoded by open reading frame M7, is a positional homolog of gp350/220 of EBV and of gp35/37 of KSHV. Since it had been proposed that gp350/220 of EBV might be a suitable vaccine antigen to protect from EBV-associated diseases, gp150 has been applied as a model vaccine in the MHV-68 system. When analyzing the function of gp150, previous studies yielded conflicting results on the role of gp150 in latency amplification, and disparities between the mutant viruses which had been analyzed were blamed for the observed differences.


RESULTS
To further develop MHV-68 as model to study the function of gammaherpesvirus glycoproteins in vivo, it is important to know whether gp150 contributes to latency amplification or not. Thus, we re-evaluated this question by testing a number of gp150 mutants side by side. Our results suggest that gp150 is dispensable for latency amplification. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of vaccination with gp150 using gp150-containing exosomes. Vaccination with gp150 induced a strong humoral and cellular immune response, yet it did not affect a subsequent MHV-68 challenge infection.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, we found no evidence for a role of gp150 in latency amplification. The previously observed contradictory results on the role of gp150 in latency amplification were not related to differences between the mutant viruses which had been used.
Institute of Molecular Immunology, Helmholtz Zentrum München-German Research Center for Environmental Health, Munich, Germany.
Romana
R
Ruiss
Shinji
S
Ohno
Beatrix
B
Steer
Reinhard
R
Zeidler
Heiko
H
Adler
D000818:Animals; D018142:Gammaherpesvirinae / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018144:Rhadinovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D014611:Vaccination; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D017735:Virus Latency
D006023:Glycoproteins; D014764:Viral Proteins