JVI Figure table search 04
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Joseph, A. M.
Right arrow Articles by Thorley-Lawson, D. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Joseph, A. M.
Right arrow Articles by Thorley-Lawson, D. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Virology, November 2000, p. 9964-9971, Vol. 74, No. 21
0022-538X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Cells Expressing the Epstein-Barr Virus Growth Program Are Present in and Restricted to the Naive B-Cell Subset of Healthy Tonsils

Alexandra M. Joseph, Gregory J. Babcock, and David A. Thorley-Lawson*

Department of Pathology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

Received 5 May 2000/Accepted 8 August 2000

In this paper we demonstrate, for the first time, that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-infected cells expressing the lymphoblastoid growth program are present in healthy carriers of the virus. Previously we observed that latently infected naive B cells are present in tonsils only when viral replication is detected, suggesting that these may represent newly infected B cells. We have tested this idea by performing a reverse transcription-PCR analysis for the expression of latent genes (EBNA2 and the EBNA3s) that are characteristically expressed only by newly infected cells expressing the growth latency program. EBNA2 expression is regularly detected in purified naive (IgD+) tonsillar B cells (13 of 16 tonsils tested) but was never found in the IgD- population (0 of 16). More detailed analysis revealed that the mRNAs for the latent genes EBNA1 (3 of 3 tonsils tested), EBNA3a (3 of 5), EBNA3b (3 of 5), EBNA3c (3 of 5), LMP1 (6 of 6), and LMP2 (5 of 6) were also present in the IgD+ population, but the EBNA1Q-K transcript, characteristic of nonlymphoblastoid forms of latency, was never detected (0 of 6). Finally, we demonstrate that the latently infected naive (IgD+) cells express CD80 (B7.1), a marker characteristically expressed on activated naive lymphoblasts but absent from resting naive B cells. The infected naive (IgD+) population in the tonsil therefore has the viral and cellular phenotype of a B-cell directly infected with EBV---an activated lymphoblast expressing the growth program.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dept. of Pathology, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 02111. Phone: (617) 636-2726. Fax: (617) 636-2990. E-mail: dlawson{at}opal.tufts.edu.


Journal of Virology, November 2000, p. 9964-9971, Vol. 74, No. 21
0022-538X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:




Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Mol. Cell. Biol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2000 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.