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Transcription of latent and replicative Epstein‐Barr‐virus genes in bone‐marrow and peripheral‐blood mononuclear cells of healthy donors
Author(s) -
Gonnella Roberta,
Angeloni Antonio,
Calogero Antonella,
Farina Antonella,
Santarelli Roberta,
Gentile Giuseppe,
Arcese William,
Martino Pietro,
Mandelli Franco,
Frati Luigi,
Faggioni Alberto,
Ragona Giuseppe
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19970304)70:5<524::aid-ijc6>3.0.co;2-#
Subject(s) - peripheral blood mononuclear cell , biology , bone marrow , lytic cycle , virus , virology , gene , reverse transcriptase , herpesviridae , virus latency , gene expression , reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction , epstein–barr virus , microbiology and biotechnology , polymerase chain reaction , immunology , viral disease , genetics , in vitro , viral replication
Reverse‐transcriptase polymerase chain reaction has been used to analyze the expression of 2 latent genes ( EBNA‐1 and LMP‐1 ) and one replicative gene ( BZLF‐1 ) of Epstein‐Barr virus in mononuclear cells from bone marrow and peripheral blood of healthy donors. EBV‐gene transcription was detected in 8 out of 15 bone‐marrow samples. Among these, 5 allowed the detection of latency‐associated transcripts in the absence of BZLF‐1 expression. Only one sample showed positivity for expression of both latent and lytic genes. In 2 cases, BZLF‐1 was the only transcript detected. In peripheral blood, 4 out of 7 samples showed evidence of EBNA‐1 transcription; LMP‐1 was expressed in 5 samples, and in 2 cases concomitant expression of EBNA‐1 and BZLF‐1 was detected. These results provide a direct demonstration by RT‐PCR of EBV‐gene transcription in bone‐marrow‐resident viral infected cells and suggest, in contrast to previous studies on peripheral blood, that LMP‐1 and BZLF‐1 are frequently transcribed also in absence of EBV‐related disease. The heterogeneous viral gene expression found makes it difficult to define a pattern of viral latency in vivo which coincides with that described for lymphoblastoid or Burkitt's‐lymphoma cell lines at different stages of differentiation. Int. J. Cancer 70:524–529. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss Inc.