Comparison of host cell gene expression in cowpox, monkeypox or vaccinia virus-infected cells reveals virus-specific regulation of immune response genes
Open Access
- 20 February 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Virology Journal
- Vol. 10 (1), 61
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-422x-10-61
Abstract
Background Animal-borne orthopoxviruses, like monkeypox, vaccinia and the closely related cowpox virus, are all capable of causing zoonotic infections in humans, representing a potential threat to human health. The disease caused by each virus differs in terms of symptoms and severity, but little is yet know about the reasons for these varying phenotypes. They may be explained by the unique repertoire of immune and host cell modulating factors encoded by each virus. In this study, we analysed the specific modulation of the host cell’s gene expression profile by cowpox, monkeypox and vaccinia virus infection. We aimed to identify mechanisms that are either common to orthopoxvirus infection or specific to certain orthopoxvirus species, allowing a more detailed description of differences in virus-host cell interactions between individual orthopoxviruses. To this end, we analysed changes in host cell gene expression of HeLa cells in response to infection with cowpox, monkeypox and vaccinia virus, using whole-genome gene expression microarrays, and compared these to each other and to non-infected cells. Results Despite a dominating non-responsiveness of cellular transcription towards orthopoxvirus infection, we could identify several clusters of infection-modulated genes. These clusters are either commonly regulated by orthopoxvirus infection or are uniquely regulated by infection with a specific orthopoxvirus, with major differences being observed in immune response genes. Most noticeable was an induction of genes involved in leukocyte migration and activation in cowpox and monkeypox virus-infected cells, which was not observed following vaccinia virus infection. Conclusion Despite their close genetic relationship, the expression profiles induced by infection with different orthopoxviruses vary significantly. It may be speculated that these differences at the cellular level contribute to the individual characteristics of cowpox, monkeypox and vaccinia virus infections in certain host species.Keywords
This publication has 49 references indexed in Scilit:
- Intrabronchial inoculation of cynomolgus macaques with cowpox virusJournal of General Virology, 2012
- Cowpox virus infection of cynomolgus macaques as a model of hemorrhagic smallpoxVirology, 2011
- Cytoscape 2.8: new features for data integration and network visualizationBioinformatics, 2010
- Simultaneous high-resolution analysis of vaccinia virus and host cell transcriptomes by deep RNA sequencingProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Dual specificity phosphatase 6 (DUSP6) is an ETS-regulated negative feedback mediator of oncogenic ERK signaling in lung cancer cellsCarcinogenesis: Integrative Cancer Research, 2010
- Activation of the PI3K/Akt Pathway Early during Vaccinia and Cowpox Virus Infections Is Required for both Host Survival and Viral ReplicationJournal of Virology, 2009
- ClueGO: a Cytoscape plug-in to decipher functionally grouped gene ontology and pathway annotation networksBioinformatics, 2009
- Zoonotic Vaccinia Virus Infection in Brazil: Clinical Description and Implications for Health ProfessionalsJournal of Clinical Microbiology, 2007
- Differential role played by the MEK/ERK/EGR-1 pathway in orthopoxviruses vaccinia and cowpox biologyBiochemical Journal, 2006
- KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and GenomesNucleic Acids Research, 2000