Murine Gammaherpesvirus 68: A Model for the Study of Epstein-Barr Virus Infections and Related Diseases

摘要

Epstein-Barrvirus(EBV)isaubiquitoushumangammaherpesvirus(GHV)thatcausesacuteinfectionandestablisheslife-longlatency.EBVisassociatedwiththedevelopmentofB-celllymphoproliferativedisorders,severalmalignantcancers,thesyndromeofinfectiousmononucleosis,andchronicinterstitiallungdisease.AlthoughthemolecularbiologyofEBVhasbeencharacterizedextensively,theassociateddiseaseconditionsandtheirpathogenesisaredifficulttostudyinhumanpopulationsbecauseofvariationinhumanenvironmentsandgenetics,thewell-documentedeffectofstressorsonpathogenesis,andthechronicandlatentpropertiesofthevirus.GHVarehighlyspecies-specific,andsuitableanimalmodelsforEBVarenotavailable.However,in1980,amurinegammaherpesvirus(MuGHV,alsoknownasMHV68and#59138;HV68)wasidentifiedasanaturalpathogenofbankvolesandwoodmice.ExperimentalMuGHVinfectionsinlaboratorymicesharemanyfeaturesofEBVinfectionsinhumans,includingfacetsoftheclinicalhumansyndromeknownasinfectiousmononucleosis.ThesefeaturesmakeMuGHVavaluableexperimentalmodelforstudyingthepathophysiologyofaGHVinanaturalhost.