@article{BrinkmannSchwinnMuelleretal.1993, author = {Brinkmann, R. and Schwinn, A. and M{\"u}ller, J. and Stahl-Hennig, C. and Coulibaly, C. and Hunsmann, G. and Czub, S. and Rethwilm, Axel and D{\"o}rries, R. and ter Meulen, Volker}, title = {In vitro and in vivo infection of rhesus monkey microglial cells by simian immunodeficiency virus}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-61415}, year = {1993}, abstract = {The observation that microglial cells in brain tissue are probably a major target for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has raised interest in the pathogenic role of this cell population for the development of neuro-AIOS. Since it is very difficult to obtain microglia from normal or diseased human brain we studied microglial cells isolated from fresh brain tissue of uninfected and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infected rhesus monkeys (Macacca mulatta) in comparison to peripheral blood macrophages. Besides the characterization of the phenotypes of these two cell populations, we examined the replication of SIV in the cells in addition to the effect of viral infection on the expression of cell surface molecules. We found that microglia and macrophages support replication of the wild-type SIV\(_{mac25}\), strain as well as the infectious clone (SIV\(_239\)). Infectious viruswas produced and a CPE developed. Isolated microglial cells from SIV-infected monkeys were latently infected independent of the presence of neuropathological lesions and produced infectious virus after 20-25 days in culture. In situ hybridization revealed that only a small percentage of isolated microglial cells are productively infected in vivo, yet the majority of these expressed MHC class II molecules. This indicated a state of activation that is acquired in vivo. These findings indicate that microglia are a prime target cell for SIV infection in CNS tissue.}, subject = {Virologie}, language = {en} } @article{JocherRethwilmKapposetal.1990, author = {Jocher, R. and Rethwilm, Axel and Kappos, L. and ter Meulen, Volker}, title = {Search for retroviral sequences in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and brain tissue of multiple sclerosis patients}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-61462}, year = {1990}, abstract = {DNAs from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 21 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), 1 patient with tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) as well as DNAs from brain and spinal cord of 5 MS cases and 3 controls were examined for human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV)-related sequences by polymerase chain reaction. The primers used were derived from the HTLV-1 gag, env and tax genes. Amplified products were separated on agarase gels, blotted onto nylon membranes and hybridized to specific radiolabelled oligonucleotides. The sensitivity of amplification and hybridization was one copy of target DNA in 10\8^5\) cellular genomes. None of the specimens was positive for HTLV-1 sequences except the TSP probe. These negative data are all the more significant because brain -material from MS patients was used in these studies. Our studies thus fail to support speculations that HTLV-I is involved in the aetiology of multiple sclerosis.}, subject = {Virologie}, language = {en} } @article{MaurerSerflingterMeulenetal.1991, author = {Maurer, Bernd and Serfling, Edgar and ter Meulen, Volker and Rethwilm, Axel}, title = {Transcription factor AP-1 modulates the activity of the human foamy virus long terminal repeat}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-61444}, year = {1991}, abstract = {The human foamy virus (HFV) contains within the UJ region of its long terminal repeat (L TR) three perfect consensus sequences for the binding of the inducible transcription factor AP-1. Results of DNase I footprint protection and gel retardation assays demonstrated that proteins in extracts of HeLa and BHK-21 cells as weil as bacterially expressed Jun and Fos proteins bind to these AP-1 sites. By conducting transient expression assays using chloramphenicol acetyltransferase plasmids carrying LTR sequences with point-mutated AP-1 sites it was found that the three AP-1 sites contribute to the optimal activity ofthe HFV promoter. It is shown that lnduction of the HFV L TR by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and serum factors is mediated through the AP-1 sites.}, subject = {Virologie}, language = {en} } @article{NetzerRethwilmMaureretal.1990, author = {Netzer, Kai O. and Rethwilm, Axel and Maurer, Bernd and ter Meulen, Volker}, title = {Identification of the major immunogenic structural proteins of human foamy virus}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-61477}, year = {1990}, abstract = {We have identified the major immunogenic structural proteins of the human foamy virus (HFV), a distinct member of the foamy virus subfamily of Retroviridae. Radiolabelied viral proteins were immunoprecipitated from HFV -infected cells by foamy virus antisera of human and non-human primate origin. Precipitated viral proteins were in the range of 31 K to 170K. Labelling of proteins with [\(^{14}\)C]glucosamine or with [\(^{35}\)S]methionine in the presence oftunicamycin, as well as endo-ß-N-acetylglycosaminidase Hand F treatment of [\(^{35}\)S]methionine-labelled proteins, revealed three viral glycoproteins of approximately 170K, 130K and 47K, most likely representing the env gene-encoded precursor, the surface glycoprotein and the transmembrane protein of HFV, respectively.}, subject = {Virologie}, language = {en} } @article{RethwilmErlweinBaunachetal.1991, author = {Rethwilm, Axel and Erlwein, Otto and Baunach, Gerald and Mauerer, Bernd and ter Meulen, Volker}, title = {The transcriptional transactivator of human foamy virus maps to the bel 1 genomic region}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-47342}, year = {1991}, abstract = {The human foamy virus (HFV) genome possesses three open reading frames (bel I, 2, and 3) located between env and the 3' long terminal repeat. By analogy to other human retroviruses this region was selected as the most Iikely candidate to encode the viral transactivator. ResuIts presented here confirmed this and showed further that a deletion introduced only into the bell open reading frame of a plasmid derived from an infectious molecular clone of HFV abolished transactivation. In contrast, deletions in bel 2 and bel 3 had only minor effects on the ability to transactivate. The role of the bel I genomic region as a transactivator was further investigated by eukaryotic expression of a genome fragment of HFV spanning the bel I open reading frame. A construct expressing bell under control of a heterologous promoter was found to transactivate the HFV long terminal repeat in a dose-dependent fashion. Furthermore, it is shown that the U3 region of the HFV long terminal repeat is sufficient to respond to the HFV transactivator.}, subject = {Virologie}, language = {en} } @article{RethwilmMoriMaureretal.1990, author = {Rethwilm, Axel and Mori, Kazuyasu and Maurer, Bernd and ter Meulen, Volker}, title = {Transacting transcriptional activation of human spumaretrovirus LTR in infected cells}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-61488}, year = {1990}, abstract = {The long terminal repeat (LTR) of the human spumaretrovirus (HSRV) was examined with respect to its ability to function as transcriptional promotor in virus-infected and uninfected cells. Transient transfections using a plasmid in which the 3' L TR of HSRV was coupled to the bacterial chloramphenicol cetyltransferase (cat) gene revealed that the Ievei of HSRV LTR-directed cat gene expression was markedly increased in HSRV-infected cells compared to uninfected cells. Northern blot analysis of cat mRNA from transfected cultures suggests that transactivation of HSRVdirected gene expression occurs at the transcriptionallevel.}, subject = {Virologie}, language = {en} } @article{SiwkaSchwinnBaczkoetal.1994, author = {Siwka, Wieslaw and Schwinn, Andreas and Baczko, Knut and Pardowitz, Iancu and Mhalu, Fred and Shao, John and Rethwilm, Axel and ter Meulen, Volker}, title = {vpu and env sequence variability of HIV-1 isolates from Tanzania}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-61355}, year = {1994}, abstract = {No abstract available}, subject = {Virologie}, language = {en} }