title: Comparison of the copy numbers of bovine leukemia virus in the lymph nodes of cattle with enzootic bovine leukosis and cattle with latent infection.
abstract: To establish a diagnostic index for predicting enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL), proviral bovine leukemia virus (BLV) copies in whole blood, lymph nodes and spleen were examined by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Cattle were divided into two groups, EBL and BLV-infected, based on meat inspection data. The number of BLV copies in all specimens of EBL cattle was significantly higher than those of BLV-infected cattle (p < 0.0001), and the number of BLV copies in the lymph nodes was particularly large. Over 70 % of the superficial cervical, medial iliac and jejunal lymph nodes from EBL cattle had more than 1,000 copies/10 ng DNA, whereas lymph nodes from BLV-infected cattle did not. These findings suggest that the cattle harboring more than 1,000 BLV copies may be diagnosed with EBL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 169-0073, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Somura
authors.forename: Emi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujikawa
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murakami
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D016583:Enzootic Bovine Leukosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D001909:Leukemia Virus, Bovine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D019562:Viral Load / Q000235:genetics*; D017735:Virus Latency
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral