Autophagosome formation during varicella-zoster virus infection following endoplasmic reticulum stress and the unfolded protein response.

ABSTRACT: Autophagy is a recently recognized component of the life cycle of varicella-zoster virus (VZV). We have documented abundant autophagosome formation in skin vesicles (final site of virion assembly) from randomly selected cases of varicella and zoster. The fact that autophagy was an early event in the VZV replication cycle was documented by finding infected vesicle cells with the VZV IE62 protein confined to the nucleus. Next, we pursued studies in VZV-infected cultured cells to define whether autophagy was preceded by endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the unfolded protein response (UPR). First, we demonstrated that autophagosome formation in infected cells closely resembled that seen after treatment of cells with tunicamycin, a potent initiator of ER stress. Second, we demonstrated a ma

SUBMITTER: Carpenter JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3165774 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature