Endoplasmic reticulum stress is a determinant of retrovirus-induced spongiform neurodegeneration.

ABSTRACT: FrCas(E) is a mouse retrovirus that causes a fatal noninflammatory spongiform neurodegenerative disease with pathological features strikingly similar to those induced by transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) agents. Neurovirulence is determined by the sequence of the viral envelope protein, though the specific role of this protein in disease pathogenesis is not known. In the present study, we compared host gene expression in the brain stems of mice infected with either FrCas(E) or the avirulent virus F43, differing from FrCas(E) in the sequence of the envelope gene. Four of the 12 disease-specific transcripts up-regulated during the preclinical period represent responses linked to the accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Among these genes was CHOP/GA

SUBMITTER: Dimcheff DE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC262586 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature