草鱼呼肠孤病毒新分离株(GCRV_(991))的病毒学特性分析

从湖南长沙分离到一株致病性强的草鱼呼肠孤病毒 (GCRV991) ,该病毒能使草鱼CIK ,肥头鲤FHM细胞产生明显的CPE ,对水生动物BF2 ,EPC及哺乳动物BHK ,VERO细胞株不敏感。中和实验显示 ,GCRV873 抗体能有效地中和GCRV991病毒颗粒 ,形成抗原抗体免疫复合物。纯化的病毒核酸与蛋白经SDS PAGE分离 ,分别呈现 11条清晰的核酸带及 5条主要与 2条微量结构多肽图谱 ,其核酸蛋白分子量大小与GCRV873 相近似。该毒株基因组总分子量为 14.48× 10 6kD ,大小范围是 0 .5 5～ 2 .6 1× 10 6kD ;5条主要与两条微量结构多肽分子量近似值分别为136kD、132kD、6 5kD、43kD、34kD及 138kD、82kD。上述结果提示 ,新分离的GCRV991与GCRV873

肠道病毒71型病毒学及致病机制研究进展

肠道病毒71型(enterovirus 71,EV71)属小RNA病毒科、肠道病毒属A组,是一种新型嗜神经组织性肠道病毒。EV71引起的重症手足口病患儿病情进展迅速,若未及时治疗可并发脑干脑炎、致死性肺出血和肺水肿,危及患儿生命。本文就EV71的病毒学特性、致病机制及检测方法对重症手足口病的早期诊断及其并发症的预防治疗研究进展作一综述。

A Comparison of the Biological Characteristics of EV71 C4 Subtypes from Different Epidemic Strains

The comparative analysis of the biological characterization and the genetic background study of EV71 circulating strains is commonly recognized as basic work necessary for development of an effective EV71 vaccine. In this study, we sequenced five EV71 circulating strains, isolated from Fuyang, Hefei, Kunming and Shenzhen city of China and named them FY-23, FY-22, H44, K9 and S1 respectively. The sequence alignment demonstrated their genotypes be C4. The genetic distance of the VP1 gene from these isolates suggested that they were highly co-related with genetic identity similar to other previously reported EV71 strains in China. Additionally, these strains were identified to display some obvious proliferation dynamics and plaque morphology when propagated in Vero cells. However, a distinctive difference in pathogenic ability in neonatal mice was found. Some differences in cross neutralization test & immunogenic analysis were also found. All these results are related to the biological characterization of circulating EV71 strains in China and aid in the development of an EV71 vaccine in the future.

H5N1 influenza viruses： outbreaks and biological properties

All known subtypes of influenza A viruses are maintained in wild waterfowl, the natural reservoir of these viruses. Influenza A viruses are isolated from a variety of animal species with varying morbidity and mortality rates. More importantly, influenza A viruses cause respiratory disease in humans with potentially fatal outcome. Local or global outbreaks in humans are typically characterized by excess hospitalizations and deaths. In 1997, highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses of the H5N1 subtype emerged in Hong Kong that transmitted to humans, resulting in the first documented cases of human death by avian influenza virus infection. A new outbreak started in July 2003 in poultry in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand, and highly pathogenic avian H5N1 influenza viruses have since spread throughout Asia and into Europe and Africa. These viruses continue to infect humans with a high mortality rate and cause worldwide concern of a looming pandemic. Moreover, H5N1 virus outbreaks have had devastating effects on the poultry industries throughout Asia. Since H5N1 virus outbreaks appear to originate from Southern China, we here examine H5N1 influenza viruses in China, with an emphasis on their biological properties.

Quantification of HBsAg:Basic virology for clinical practice

Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is produced and secreted through a complex mechanism that is still not fully understood. In clinical fields, HBsAg has long served as a qualitative diagnostic marker for hepatitis B virus infection. Notably, advances have been made in the development of quantitative HBsAg assays, which have allowed viral replication monitoring, and there is an opportunity to make maximal use of quantitative HBsAg to elucidate its role in clinical fields. Yet, it needs to be underscored that a further understanding of HBsAg, not only from clinical point of view but also from a virologic point of view, would enable us to deepen our insights, so that we could more widely expand and apply its utility. It is also important to be familiar with HBsAg variants and their clinical consequences in terms of immune escape mutants, issues resulting from overlap with corresponding mutation in the P gene, and detection problems for the HBsAg variants. In this article, we review current concepts and issues on the quantification of HBsAg titers with respect to their biologic nature, method principles, and clinically relevant topics.

Molecular and in vitro Characterization of Field Isolates of Bovine Herpesvirus-1

Bovine Herpesvirus-1 (BoHV-1) is distributed worldwide and is a major pathogen in cattle, being the causal agent of a variety of clinical syndromes. The aim of this study was to isolate and to characterize (molecular and biological characterization) BoHV-1 from 29 immunosuppressed animals. It was possible to obtain 18 isolates, each from a different animal, such as from the respiratory and reproductive tracts. In some cases the cytopathic effect was visible 12 hours post-inoculation, and became characteristic after 36-48 hours. Biological characteristics were evaluated and compared with Iowa and Colorado-1 reference strains, and differences were found in plaque size, virus titer measured by TCID50 and PFU/mL, and one step virus curves. These results showed that some isolates had a highly virulent-like behavior in vitro, compared to the reference strains, with shorter eclipse periods, faster release of virus into the supernatants, and higher burst size and viral titer. There were no differences in glycoprotein expression of BoHV-1 isolates, measured by Western blot on monolayers. Moreover, using restriction endonucleases analysis, most of the viruses were confirmed as BoHV-1.1 and just one of them was confirmed as BoHV-1.2a subtype. These findings suggest that some wild-type BoHV-1 isolates could be useful as seeds to develop new monovalent vaccines.

Cell culture systems for the hepatitis C virus

Since the discovery of HCV in 1989, the lack of a cell culture system has hampered research progress on this important human pathogen. No robust system has been obtained by empiric approaches, and HCV cell culture remained hypothetical until 2005. The construction of functional molecular clones has served as a starting point to reconstitute a consensus infectious cDNA that was able to transcribe infectious HCV RNAs as shown by intrahepatic inoculation in a chimpanzee. Other consen- sus clones have been selected and established in a hu- man hepatoma cell line as replicons, i.e. self-replicating subgenomic or genomic viral RNAs. However, these repli- cons did not support production of infectious virus. Inter- estingly, some full-length replicons could be established without adaptive mutations and one of them was able to replicate at very high levels and to release virus particles that are infectious in cell culture and in vivo. This new cell culture system represents a major breakthrough in the HCV field and should enable a broad range of basic and applied studies to be achieved.

Recent advances in hepatitis C virus research and understanding the biology of the virus

Since the identification of hepatitis C virus （HCV） genome in 1989m, a lot of progresses have been done about the understanding of HCV biology, natural history and therapeutic options. HCV is a member of the Flaviviridae viral family. Its genome is a positive simple strand RNA molecule which shows significant genetic variability. The HCV nomenclature has been recently re-examined by an international group of scientific experts in the field of HCV genetic variability or involved in HCV data base.

Epidemiological Investigation and Genetic Characterization of Type 2 PCV2 （Type 2 Porcine Circovirus） in Mexican Commercial Herds

PCV2 （Porcine circovirus type 2） is considered as the essential infectious agent of PMWS （post weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome） in pigs. Serological studies have shown that the virus is ubiquitous. Currently, there are many reports about the epidemiology and genetic characteristics of this virus around the world, but in Mexico it has not been studied. More than 3,500 samples of serum, rectal swabs, tissues and semen of 34 Mexican porcine farms from 10 important producer regions were analyzed by PCR. Results show that 97% of the farms were positive. Both genotypes, PCV2a and PCV2b were detected. It also found that the most prevalent genotype in Mexico is PCV2b. Regarding to amino acid sequence; three major heterogenic regions were present in the positions 59-91,123-136 and 185-210.

A comparative study of the characteristics of two Coxsackie A virus type 16 strains (genotype B)

Coxsackie A virus is one of the major pathogens associated with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). The etiological characteristics of Coxsackie A virus type 16 (CA16) are thought to correlate with the pathological process of its infection. Two CA16 strains that were isolated from a severe HFMD patient presented with different plaque forms. This observation, along with biological analysis, indicated that the differences in the strains' biological characteristics, such as proliferation kinetics and immunogenicity, correlate with differences in their pathogenicity toward neonatal mice. Furthermore, these differences are thought to be associated with the sequence of the 5′ non-coding region of the viral genome and the VP1 structural region sequence. The results suggest that the biological and genetic characteristics of the CA16 viral strains are relevant to their pathogenicity.