Induction of B cell hyperplasia in simian immunodeficiency virus-infected rhesus macaques with the simian homologue of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus.

A simian homologue of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), the eighth human herpesvirus (HHV8), was isolated from a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) that developed a multicentric lymphoproliferative disorder (LPD). This simian rhadinovirus is genetically similar to a recently described rhesus rhadinovirus (RRV) (Desrosiers, R.C.

Rhesus rhadinovirus establishes a latent infection in B lymphocytes in vivo.

Recent DNA sequence analysis indicates that rhesus rhadinovirus (RRV) is a member of the lymphotropic gamma-2 herpesvirus family. To determine if RRV is lymphotropic, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from naturally infected monkeys were separated by immunomagnetic bead depletion and analyzed for the presence of RRV by virus isolation and nested PCR. The recovery and consistent detection of RRV in the CD20(+)-enriched fraction clearly demonstrates that B lymphocytes are a major site of virus persistence.

A rhesus macaque rhadinovirus related to Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus/human herpesvirus 8 encodes a functional homologue of interleukin-6.

The rhesus rhadinovirus strain 17577 (RRV strain 17577) genome is essentially colinear with human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8)/Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and encodes several analogous open reading frames (ORFs), including the homologue of cellular interleukin-6 (IL-6). To determine if the RRV IL-6-like ORF (RvIL-6) is biologically functional, it was expressed either transiently in COS-1 cells or purified from bacteria as a glutathione S-transferase (GST)-RvIL-6 fusion and analyzed by IL-6 bioassays. Utilizing the IL-6-dependent B9 cell line, we found that both forms of RvIL-6 supported cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner.

Sequence and genomic analysis of a Rhesus macaque rhadinovirus with similarity to Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus/human herpesvirus 8.

We have sequenced the long unique region (LUR) and characterized the terminal repeats of the genome of a rhesus rhadinovirus (RRV), strain 17577. The LUR as sequenced is 131,364 bp in length, with a G+C content of 52.2% and a CpG ratio of 1.

Characterization of rhesus cytomegalovirus genes associated with anti-viral susceptibility.

Studies were initiated to determine whether rhesus cytomegalovirus (RhCMV)-infected macaques could serve as an animal model for evaluating anti-CMV compounds, as macaques have a naturally occurring CMV that is similar to human CMV (HCMV). Utilizing plaque reduction assays, RhCMV was tested to anti-viral susceptibility. By these assays.