Viruses, Vol. 12, Pages 12: The Zebrafish Xenograft Platform —A Novel Tool for Modeling KSHV-Associated Diseases

Viruses, Vol. 12, Pages 12: The Zebrafish Xenograft Platform—A Novel Tool for Modeling KSHV-Associated Diseases Viruses doi: 10.3390/v12010012 Authors: Eric S. Pringle Jaime Wertman Nicole Melong Andrew J. Coombs Andrew L. Young David O’Leary Chansey Veinotte Carolyn-Ann Robinson Michael N. Ha Graham Dellaire Todd E. Druley Craig McCormick Jason N. Berman Kaposi’s sarcoma associated-herpesvirus (KSHV, also known as human herpesvirus-8) is a gammaherpesvirus that establishes life-long infection in human B lymphocytes. KSHV infection is typically asymptomatic, but immunosuppression can predispose KSHV-infected individuals to primary effusion lymphoma (PEL); a malignancy driven by aberrant proliferation of latently infected B lymphocytes, and supported by pro-inflammatory cytokines and angiogenic factors produced by cells that succumb to lytic viral replication. Here, we report the development of the first in vivo model for a virally induced lymphoma in zebrafish, whereby KSHV-infected PEL tumor cells engraft and proliferate in the yolk sac of zebrafish larvae. Using a PEL cell line engineered to produce the viral lytic switch protein RTA in the presence of doxycycline, we demonstrate drug-inducible reactivation from KSHV latency in vivo, which enabled real-time observation and evaluation of latent and lytic phases of KSHV infection. In addition, we developed a sensitive droplet digital PCR method to monitor latent and lytic vira...
Source: Viruses - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research