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Affiliation(s)
- R. Mark Buller
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center, St. Louis, Missouri
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2
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Parker S, Siddiqui AM, Painter G, Schriewer J, Buller RM. Ectromelia virus infections of mice as a model to support the licensure of anti-orthopoxvirus therapeutics. Viruses 2010; 2:1918-1932. [PMID: 21994714 PMCID: PMC3185751 DOI: 10.3390/v2091918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2010] [Revised: 08/30/2010] [Accepted: 08/31/2010] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The absence of herd immunity to orthopoxviruses and the concern that variola or monkeypox viruses could be used for bioterroristic activities has stimulated the development of therapeutics and safer prophylactics. One major limitation in this process is the lack of accessible human orthopoxvirus infections for clinical efficacy trials; however, drug licensure can be based on orthopoxvirus animal challenge models as described in the "Animal Efficacy Rule". One such challenge model uses ectromelia virus, an orthopoxvirus, whose natural host is the mouse and is the etiological agent of mousepox. The genetic similarity of ectromelia virus to variola and monkeypox viruses, the common features of the resulting disease, and the convenience of the mouse as a laboratory animal underscores its utility in the study of orthopoxvirus pathogenesis and in the development of therapeutics and prophylactics. In this review we outline how mousepox has been used as a model for smallpox. We also discuss mousepox in the context of mouse strain, route of infection, infectious dose, disease progression, and recovery from infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Parker
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 1100 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63104, USA; E-Mails: (S.P.); (A.M.S.); (J.S.)
| | - Akbar M. Siddiqui
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 1100 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63104, USA; E-Mails: (S.P.); (A.M.S.); (J.S.)
| | - George Painter
- Chimerix Inc., 2505 Meridian Park Way, Suite 340, Durham, NC, 27713, USA; E-Mail:
| | - Jill Schriewer
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 1100 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63104, USA; E-Mails: (S.P.); (A.M.S.); (J.S.)
| | - R. Mark Buller
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 1100 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63104, USA; E-Mails: (S.P.); (A.M.S.); (J.S.)
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Abstract
Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV-68) infection of laboratory mice (Mus musculus) is an established model of gammaherpesvirus pathogenesis. The fact that M. musculus is not a host in the wild prompted us to reassess MHV-68 infection in wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus), a natural host. Here, we report significant differences in MHV-68 infection in the two species: (i) following intranasal inoculation, MHV-68 replicated in the lungs of wood mice to levels approximately 3 log units lower than in BALB/c mice; (ii) in BALB/c mice, virus replication in alveolar epithelial cells was accompanied by a diffuse, T-cell-dominated interstitial pneumonitis, whereas in wood mice it was restricted to focal granulomatous infiltrations; (iii) within wood mice, latently infected lymphocytes were abundant in inducible bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue that was not apparent in BALB/c mice; (iv) splenic latency was established in both species, but well-delineated secondary follicles with germinal centers were present in wood mice, while only poorly delineated follicles were seen in BALB/c mice; and, perhaps as a consequence, (v) production of neutralizing antibody was significantly higher in wood mice. These differences highlight the value of this animal model in the study of MHV-68 pathogenesis.
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Chisholm SE, Reyburn HT. Recognition of vaccinia virus-infected cells by human natural killer cells depends on natural cytotoxicity receptors. J Virol 2006; 80:2225-33. [PMID: 16474130 PMCID: PMC1395394 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.80.5.2225-2233.2006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural Killer (NK) cells are important in the immune response to a number of viruses; however, the mechanisms used by NK cells to discriminate between healthy and virus-infected cells are only beginning to be understood. Infection with vaccinia virus provokes a marked increase in the susceptibility of target cells to lysis by NK cells, and we show that recognition of the changes in the target cell induced by vaccinia virus infection depends on the natural cytotoxicity receptors NKp30, NKp44, and NKp46. Vaccinia virus infection does not induce expression of ligands for the activating NKG2D receptor, nor does downregulation of major histocompatibility complex class I molecules appear to be of critical importance for altered target cell susceptibility to NK cell lysis. The increased susceptibility to lysis by NK cells triggered upon poxvirus infection depends on a viral gene, or genes, transcribed early in the viral life cycle and present in multiple distinct orthopoxviruses. The more general implications of these data for the processes of innate immune recognition are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan E Chisholm
- Division of Immunology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, UK
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Lourenço GA, Dorce VAC, Palermo-Neto J. Haloperidol treatments increased macrophage activity in male and female rats: influence of corticosterone and prolactin serum levels. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2005; 15:271-7. [PMID: 15820415 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2004.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2004] [Accepted: 11/25/2004] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Haloperidol is a receptor D2 antagonist frequently used in the treatment of schizophrenic patients. Haloperidol increased prolactin release from anterior pituitary gland, and prolactin modulates immune system activity. Groups of six male and female rats received an acute 2 mg/kg haloperidol treatment (E1), or a long-term (E2) haloperidol treatments (2 mg/kg/day for 21 days); control rats were treated similarly, but with control solution (groups C1 and C2, respectively). In this work long-term haloperidol treatment (E2) increased macrophage spreading, phagocytosis and NO release in male and female rats. However, acute haloperidol treatment (E1) did not change macrophage activity. Corticosterone and prolactin serum levels were increased after acute (E1) and long-term (E2) haloperidol treatments in male and female rats, being this increment higher in female. Macrophage of male and female rats presented the same pattern of alterations after acute and long-term haloperidol treatments. Haloperidol-induced macrophage activation was discussed in the light of a possible indirect effect through prolactin increments in rats, or, alternatively, as a consequence of a direct action of macrophage dopamine receptor.
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Affiliation(s)
- G A Lourenço
- Applied Pharmacology and Toxicology Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
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Chen N, Danila MI, Feng Z, Buller RML, Wang C, Han X, Lefkowitz EJ, Upton C. The genomic sequence of ectromelia virus, the causative agent of mousepox. Virology 2004; 317:165-86. [PMID: 14675635 DOI: 10.1016/s0042-6822(03)00520-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Ectromelia virus is the causative agent of mousepox, an acute exanthematous disease of mouse colonies in Europe, Japan, China, and the U.S. The Moscow, Hampstead, and NIH79 strains are the most thoroughly studied with the Moscow strain being the most infectious and virulent for the mouse. In the late 1940s mousepox was proposed as a model for the study of the pathogenesis of smallpox and generalized vaccinia in humans. Studies in the last five decades from a succession of investigators have resulted in a detailed description of the virologic and pathologic disease course in genetically susceptible and resistant inbred and out-bred mice. We report the DNA sequence of the left-hand end, the predicted right-hand terminal repeat, and central regions of the genome of the Moscow strain of ectromelia virus (approximately 177,500 bp), which together with the previously sequenced right-hand end, yields a genome of 209,771 bp. We identified 175 potential genes specifying proteins of between 53 and 1924 amino acids, and 29 regions containing sequences related to genes predicted in other poxviruses, but unlikely to encode for functional proteins in ectromelia virus. The translated protein sequences were compared with the protein database for structure/function relationships, and these analyses were used to investigate poxvirus evolution and to attempt to explain at the cellular and molecular level the well-characterized features of the ectromelia virus natural life cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nanhai Chen
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center, 1402 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63104, USA
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Casanova JL, Schurr E, Abel L, Skamene E. Forward genetics of infectious diseases: immunological impact. Trends Immunol 2002; 23:469-72. [PMID: 12297411 DOI: 10.1016/s1471-4906(02)02289-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Laurent Casanova
- Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, University of Paris René Descartes-INSERM U550, Necker Medical School, Paris, France, EU.
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Abstract
Males of many species are more susceptible than females to infections caused by parasites, fungi, bacteria, and viruses. One proximate cause of sex differences in infection is differences in endocrine-immune interactions. Specifically, males may be more susceptible to infection than females because sex steroids, specifically androgens in males and estrogens in females, modulate several aspects of host immunity. It is, however, becoming increasingly more apparent that in addition to affecting host immunity, sex steroid hormones alter genes and behaviors that influence susceptibility and resistance to infection. Thus, males may be more susceptible to infection than females not only because androgens reduce immunocompetence, but because sex steroid hormones affect disease resistance genes and behaviors that make males more susceptible to infection. Consideration of the cumulative effects of sex steroid hormones on susceptibility to infection may serve to clarify current discrepancies in the literature and offer alternative hypotheses to the view that sex steroid hormones only alter susceptibility to infection via changes in host immune function.
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Affiliation(s)
- S L Klein
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205-2179, USA.
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Fijal BA, Hall JM, Witte JS. Clinical trials in the genomic era: effects of protective genotypes on sample size and duration of trial. CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIALS 2000; 21:7-20. [PMID: 10660000 DOI: 10.1016/s0197-2456(99)00039-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
It is well known that individuals can vary widely in their disease susceptibilities. One potential source of this variation is the genetic makeup of individuals, which can confer either protection or susceptibility to disease. Here we examine the effects of protective genotypes on the sample sizes and time required to detect differences between clinical trial arms. We show that including individuals with protective genotypes in a clinical trial can increase required sample sizes and trial duration. One can deal with this issue by pregenotyping subjects and selectively enrolling them based on their genotype. Thus we also calculate the number of individuals that must be recruited and pregenotyped to fulfill sample size requirements. The benefits of genotypically screening study subjects will depend on numerous factors, including ease of patient recruitment, cost of genotyping, long-term costs of study (or long-term cost per subject), and the strength of the protective effect. We present several examples that show the potential value of incorporating information about protective genotypes into a clinical trial.
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Affiliation(s)
- B A Fijal
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44109, USA
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Abstract
Genetic epidemiology is a hybrid discipline whose ultimate aim is to identify and to characterize population-level factors that contribute to disease. Genetic epidemiologists often pursue this aim through the design and implementation of studies that simultaneously invoke principles in population genetics, epidemiology, molecular biology and biostatistics. However, traditional (and much contemporary) research in genetic epidemiology has barely tapped the potential that these disciplines have to work together. It is our view that future genetic epidemiology inquiry will benefit greatly from stronger integration of these disciplines and is likely to converge on themes in fields as diverse as demography, classical population and evolutionary genetics, pharmacoepidemiology, and ecology. The ultimate focus of this research will be evolution and maintenance of disease within and across populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- N J Schork
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
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