The Gamma-2-herpesvirus bovine herpesvirus 4 causes apoptotic infection in permissive cell lines

Increasing evidence suggests that regulation of apoptosis in infected cells is associated with several viral infections. The gammaherpesvirus bovine herpesvirus 4 (BHV-4) has been shown to harbor genes with antiapoptotic potentialities. However, here we have demonstrated that productive infection of adherent, permissive cell lines by BHV-4 resulted in a cytopathic effect characterized by induction of apoptosis. This phenomenon was confirmed using different techniques to detect apoptosis and using different virus strains and cell targets. Apoptosis induced by BHV-4 was inhibited by (1) treatment with doses of heparin, which completely inhibited virus attachment and infectivity; (2) UV treatment, which completely abrogated infectivity; and (3) treatment with a dose of phosphonoacetic acid, which blocked virus replication. Virus-induced apoptosis was associated with a down-regulation of Bcl-2 expression and was reduced by Z-VAD-FMK, but not by Z-DEVD-FMK (caspase-3-specific) caspase inhibitors. Inhibition of apoptosis by Z-VAD-FMK treatment during infection did not modify virus yield. Therefore, despite the presence of antiapoptotic genes in its genoma, BHV-4 could complete its cycle of productive infection while inducing apoptosis of infected cells. This finding might have implications for the pathobiology of BHV-4 and other gammaherpesviruses in vivo, (C) 2000 Academic Press

Microbiologia e Immunologia Veterinaria, Terza edizione

All' inizio del terzo millennio, lo scenario dell scienze biomediche \ue8 stato caratterizzato da eventi che coinvolgono prioritariamente la microbiologia e l' immunologia. Ne sono un esempio epidemie quali la SARS, l' influenza aviaria e umana, la Blue Tongue, le malattie da prioni ( BSE e la malattia di Creutzfeldt - Jakob ) e, non ultimo, il bioterrorismo con l' antrace. Il medico veterinario ( e ancor prima lo studente ) necessita pertanto di nozioni e informazioni che gli consentano di affrontare, nel lavoro quotidiano, sia le " emergenze sanitarie ", sia le " nuove patologie infettive ".Il volume \ue8 particolarmente adatto sia a coloro che si dedicano a discipline medico - biologiche, siano essi studenti universitari in Medicina Veterinaria e in Scienze delle Produzioni Animali o laureati iscritti a corsi di specializzazione, sia a medici veterinari, liberi professionisti od operanti presso strutture pubbliche che intendono rimanere aggiornati su discipline in cos\uec rapida evoluzione