Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Virology, April 1999, p. 3326-3337, Vol. 73, No. 4
Laboratory of Neuroimmunovirology, Human
Health Research Center, Armand-Frappier Institute, INRS, University of
Quebec, Laval, Québec, Canada H7V 1B71;
Laboratoire de Neurovirologie, Université Paris XI,
Kremlin Bicêtre, France2; and
Neuroimmunology Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute,
McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3A
2B43
Received 2 November 1998/Accepted 8 January 1999
Human coronaviruses (HuCV) cause common colds. Previous reports
suggest that these infectious agents may be neurotropic in humans, as
they are for some mammals. With the long-term aim of providing
experimental evidence for the neurotropism of HuCV and the
establishment of persistent infections in the nervous system, we have
evaluated the susceptibility of various human neural cell lines to
acute and persistent infection by HuCV-229E. Viral antigen, infectious
virus progeny and viral RNA were monitored during both acute and
persistent infections. The astrocytoma cell lines U-87 MG, U-373 MG,
and GL-15, as well as neuroblastoma SK-N-SH, neuroglioma H4, and
oligodendrocytic MO3.13 cell lines, were all susceptible to an acute
infection by HuCV-229E. The CHME-5 immortalized fetal microglial cell
line was not susceptible to infection by this virus. The MO3.13 and H4
cell lines also sustained a persistent viral infection, as monitored by
detection of viral antigen and infectious virus progeny. Sequencing of
the S1 gene from viral RNA after ~130 days of infection showed two
point mutations, suggesting amino acid changes during persistent
infection of MO3.13 cells but none for H4 cells. Thus, persistent in
vitro infection did not generate important changes in the S1 portion of
the viral spike protein, which was shown for murine coronaviruses to
bear hypervariable domains and to interact with cellular receptor. These results are consistent with the potential persistence of HuCV-229E in cells of the human nervous system, such as
oligodendrocytes and possibly neurons, and the virus's apparent
genomic stability.
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Persistent Infection of Human Oligodendrocytic and
Neuroglial Cell Lines by Human Coronavirus 229E
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: INRS-Institut
Armand-Frappier, 531 boulevard des Prairies, Laval, Québec,
Canada H7V 1B7. Phone: (450) 687-5010, ext. 4406. Fax: (450) 686-5531. E-mail: Pierre.Talbot{at}iaf.uquebec.ca.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2010 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»