Work

Mechanisms of viral pathogenesis. Distinct forms of reoviruses and their roles during replication in cells and host.

Year: 1991

Type: review

Abstract: Recent years have seen a resurgent interest in mechanisms by which viruses cause disease, or viral pathogenesis.Studies of viral pathogenesis often address the capacity ofa virus to cause injuries to cells and tissues; yet, injuries are secondary conse- quences of many fundamental interactions that occur between virus and single cells, as well as between virus and host organ- ism, during infection.For example the tropism ofa virus, or its capacity to grow within particular cells in the host, reflects several of these interactions.Studies of more basic aspects of viral infection are therefore critical for understanding viral pathogen- esis.We begin this perspective by introducing some general concepts in regard to the replication and structure of animal viruses.Infections with mammalian reoviruses provide useful mod- els for characterizing mechanisms of viral pathogenesis (re- viewed in references 1 and 2).Mammalian reoviruses (reovi- ruses for short) are medium-sized nonenveloped viruses that have a genome consisting of 10 segments of double-stranded (ds)' RNA.In humans, reoviruses are not linked definitively with any disease more severe than a mild enteric or respiratory illness, but in mice and rats they cause a number of disease syndromes involving major organs like brain (3) and heart (4).Studies with reoviruses demonstrate that facts obtained at mul- tiple levels ofinquiry can be integrated in the attempt to under- stand viral pathogenesis (1, 2).In the major part ofthis perspec- tive, we describe how the structure ofreoviruses relates to their strategy for replication in cells and host organisms and discuss several similarities in this regard between reoviruses and other animal viruses.Some general concepts regarding the replication and structure ofanimal viruses Defining the replication program of an animal virus.Animal viruses proceed through an orderly series ofsteps when replicat- ing within cells (illustrated for reoviruses in Fig. 1).These steps are said to define the replication cycle of a virus.Because ani-

Source: Journal of Clinical Investigation

DOI: 10.1172/jci115369

Authors: M L Nibert, D B Furlong, B N Fields

Institutions: Harvard University, Baim Institute for Clinical Research, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Viral gastroenteritis research and epidemiology

Subfield: Infectious Diseases

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke