The poly(C) region affects progression of encephalomyocarditis virus infection in Langerhans' islets but not in the myocardium

The long-lasting enigma of polycytidine (polyC) tract

Long polycytidine (polyC) tracts varying in length from 50 to 400 nucleotides were first described in the 5'-noncoding region (NCR) of genomes of picornaviruses belonging to the Cardio- and Aphthovirus genera over 50 years ago, but the molecular basis of their function is still unknown. Truncation or complete deletion of the polyC tracts in picornaviruses compromises virulence and pathogenicity but do not affect replicative fitness in vitro, suggesting a role as "viral security" RNA element. The evidence available suggests that the presence of a long polyC tract is required for replication in immune cells, which impacts viral distribution and targeting, and, consequently, pathogenic progression. Viral attenuation achieved by reduction of the polyC tract length has been successfully used for vaccine strategies. Further elucidation of the role of the polyC tract in viral replication cycle and its connection with replication in immune cells has the potential to expand the arsenal of tools in the fight against cancer in oncolytic virotherapy (OV). Here, we review the published data on the biological significance and mechanisms of action of the polyC tract in viral pathogenesis in Cardio- and Aphthoviruses.

Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the bladder after simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplant: a case report and review of the literature

Carcinosarcoma and sarcomatoid carcinoma of the bladder after organ transplantation is higher in comparison to the general population but overall occurrence is still very uncommon. Due to the decreased immunitary response effects of antirejection drugs, these cancers have aggressive course and respond poorly to treatment. Bladder drained pancreatic transplants are associated with a number of urologic challenges that can delay the diagnosis and the treatment of malignancies of the genito-urinary system. The authors present a case of a rare sarcomatoid carcinoma of the bladder following bladder drained simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplant and discuss its pathogenesis and clinical management.

Engineering infectious foot-and-mouth disease virus in vivo from a full-length genomic cDNA clone of the A/AKT/58 strain

Two full-length genomic cDNA clones, pTA/FMDV and pCA/FMDV, were constructed that contained three point-mutants [A174G and A308G (not present in pTA/FMDV); T1029G] in the genome compared with the wild type A/AKT/58 strain of foot-and-mouth disease virus. These two viruses were rescued by co-transfection of pCA/FMDV with pCT7RNAP, which can express T7 RNA polymerase in BHK-21 cell-lines, or by transfection of the in vitro transcribed RNA. Their biological properties were analyzed for their antigenicity, virulence in suckling-mice (LD50) and growth kinetics in BHK-21 cells. The in vivo rescued viruses showed high pathogenicity for 3-day-old unweaned mice (LD50=10(-7.5)). However, the in vitro transcribed RNA derived from pTA/FMDV had lower pathogenicity for suckling-mice (LD50=10(-6)), and the in vivo transcribed RNA recovered from pCA/FMDV co-transfected with pCT7RNAP showed no significant differences from the wild type virus. These data showed that recovery of the infectious foot-and-mouth disease virus directly from the use of in vivo techniques was better than from in vitro methods. Furthermore, the reverse genetic procedure technique was simplified to a faster one-step procedure based on co-transfection with pCT7RNAP. These results suggest that in vivo RNA transcripts may be more valuable for engineering recombinant foot-and-mouth disease virus than in vitro RNA transcripts, and may contribute to further understanding of the biological properties, such as replication, maturation and quasispecies, of the foot-and-mouth disease virus.

A wild-type porcine encephalomyocarditis virus containing a short poly(C) tract is pathogenic to mice, pigs, and cynomolgus macaques

Previous studies using wild-type Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) and Mengo virus, which have long poly(C) tracts (61 to 146 C's) at the 5' nontranslated region of the genome, and variants of these viruses genetically engineered to truncate or substitute the poly(C) tracts have produced conflicting data on the role of the poly(C) tract in the virulence of these viruses. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of an EMCV strain isolated from an aborted swine fetus (EMCV 30/87) revealed that the virus had a poly(C) tract that was 7- to 10-fold shorter than the poly(C) tracts of other EMCV strains and 4-fold shorter than that of Mengo virus. Subsequently, we investigated the virulence and pathogenesis of this naturally occurring short-poly(C)-tract-containing virus in rodents, pigs, and nonhuman primates. Infection of C57BL/6 mice, pigs, and cynomolgus macaques resulted in similar EMCV 30/87 pathogenesis, with the heart and brain as the primary sites of infections in all three animals, but with different disease phenotypes. Sixteen percent of EMCV 30/87-infected pigs developed acute fatal cardiac failure, whereas the rest of the pigs were overtly asymptomatic for as long as 90 days postinfection (p.i.), despite extensive myocardial and central nervous system (CNS) pathological changes. In contrast, mice infected with >/==" BORDER="0">4 PFU of EMCV 30/87 developed acute encephalitis that resulted in the death of all animals (n = 25) between days 2 and 7 p.i. EMCV 30/87-infected macaques remained overtly asymptomatic for 45 days, despite extensive myocardial and CNS pathological changes and viral persistence in more than 50% of the animals. The short poly(C) tract in EMCV 30/87 (CUC(5)UC(8)) was comparable to that of strain 2887A/91 (C(10)UCUC(3)UC(10)), another recent porcine isolate.