Restricted expression of Epstein-Barr virus latent genes in murine B cells derived from embryonic stem cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Several human malignancies are associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and more than 95% of the adult human population carries this virus lifelong. EBV efficiently infects human B cells and persists in this cellular compartment latently. EBV-infected B cells become activated and growth transformed, express a characteristic set of viral latent genes, and acquire the status of proliferating lymphoblastoid cell lines in vitro. Because EBV infects only primate cells, it has not been possible to establish a model of infection in immunocompetent rodents. Such a model would be most desirable in order to study EBV's pathogenesis and latency in a suitable and amenable host.

Methodology/principal findings

We stably introduced recombinant EBV genomes into mouse embryonic st

SUBMITTER: Zychlinska M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2289878 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature