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Journal article

Persistence of human herpesvirus 7 in normal tissues detected by expression of a structural antigen.

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  • 1998-09-05
Published in:
  • The Journal of infectious diseases. - 1998
Antigens, Viral
Herpesviridae Infections
Herpesvirus 7, Human
Humans
Immunoenzyme Techniques
Phosphoproteins
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Virus Latency
English Human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7) infection in histologically normal human tissues was investigated by immunohistochemical detection of the 85-kDa tegument phosphoprotein (pp85) encoded by the U14 gene. So far, two cell types were recognized as sites of HHV-7 infection in vivo: CD4+ T lymphocytes, believed to be the site of latent infection, and epithelial cells of salivary glands, the site of productive infection and viral shedding. Unexpectedly, cells expressing the HHV-7 structural antigen were detectable in lungs, skin, and mammary glands. Morphologically and phenotypically, they were distinct from lymphocytes. Liver, kidney, and tonsils were positive, although the number of HHV-7-positive cells was low. Large intestine, spleen, and brain were negative. Different from the current notion of the state of HHV-7 in humans, the results show that a variety of tissues harbor cells at a late stage of infection and suggest that HHV-7 causes a persistent rather than a true latent infection.
Language
  • English
Open access status
bronze
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/77701
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