All issues
Volume 59 (2009)
- Issue 2 Pages 139-
- Issue 1 Pages 1-
Predecessor
Volume 59, Issue 2
Displaying 1-15 of 15 articles from this issue
- |<
- <
- 1
- >
- >|
Reviews
-
Hitoshi OSHITANI2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 139-144
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSIn the past, influenza pandemics have been occurring every 20 to 30 years. Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) has been causing unprecedented global outbreaks since 2003 and many human cases with a high case fatality rate have also been reported. But the virus that caused a pandemic in 2009 was A(H1N1) that was originated from swine influenza. The same subtype, A(H1N1) has been circulating in human population since 1977. This pandemic (H1N1) 2009 is also not as virulent as A(H5N1) in humans. Many aspects of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 are different from what we had been expecting. We should reconsider the concepts and the strategies for influenza pandemic by reviewing current pandemic (H1N1)View full abstractDownload PDF (232K) -
Masafumi TAKIGUCHI2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 145-154
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSHIV-1-specific CTLs, which can kill HIV-1-infected cells, play an important role in control HIV-1 replication. There are growing evidences that they select HIV-1 escape mutations so that escape HIV-1 mutants become dominant in the donors. A recent study analyzing approximately 2800 HIV-1 infected individuals in 9 different cohorts demonstrated that HIV escape mutants accumulated in the cohorts, demonstrating strong evidence of HIV adaptation to HLA at a population level. This process of viral adaptation may dismantle the well-established HLA associations with control of HIV infection that are linked to the availability of key epitopes, and highlights the challenge for a vaccine to keep pace with the changing immunological landscape presented by HIVView full abstractDownload PDF (915K) -
Ken'ichi HAGIWARA, Yoshio YAMAKAWA, Kentaro HANADA2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 155-166
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSTransmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or prion diseases, are fatal neurodegenerative disorders. In aetiological viewpoint, human prion diseases are classified into 1) sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) which comprises 80-90% of the total population of human prion disaeses, 2) inherited forms, and 3) acquired types by prion-contaminated surgical instruments, biopharmaceuticals or foodstuffs. The diseases cause an accumulation of the disease-associated form(s) of prion protein (PrPSc) in the central nervous system. PrPSc is regarded as the entity of prion agents and generally exerts infectivity, irrespective of its origin being from the sporadic cases or the inherited cases. Variant CJD (vCJD), first identified in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1996, is an acquired type of human CJD by oral intake of BSE prion. Cumulative numbers of 215 patients in the world have been reported for definite or probable vCJD cases according to the UK National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit by September, 2009. Different from sporadic CJD cases, vCJD patients show an accumulation of PrPSc in spleen and tonsils. Such distribution of PrPSc in lymphoid tissues raised clinical concern about the potential infectivity in the blood or blood components used for blood transfusion. To date, five instances of probable transfusion-mediated transmission of vCJD prion have been found in UK. Here we review the past and the present issues about the acquired human prion diseases.View full abstractDownload PDF (1280K) -
Hiroshi TSUNEMITSU2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 167-179
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSAs of February 2009, the Japanese pig industry included 6,890 farms housing a total of 9,899,000 pigs, and produces approximately half of the pig meat consumed in the Japanese domestic market. Although the number of pigs has not substantially changed over the past 20 years, the number of farms has decreased by 86%, indicating the rapid progression of scale expansion in Japan. Against this background, two emerging viral diseases first noted in the 1990s, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) and porcine circovirus associated diseases (PCVAD), are now endemic in many farms and causing serious economic losses. This review provides a brief overview of clinical aspects of these two endemic viral diseases and describes the current status of control efforts.View full abstractDownload PDF (3630K) -
Hiro-oki IWAKAWA, Testuro OKUNO2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 179-188
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSMany lines of recent evidence indicate that non-coding RNAs including micro RNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) play an important role in the control of gene expression in diverse cellular processes and in defense responses against molecular parasites such as viruses and transposons. Viruses also use many different types of non-coding RNAs for regulating expression of their own genome or host genome temporally and spatially to ensure efficient virus proliferation and/or latency in the host cell. Here, we introduce the generation mechanisms and functions of novel non-coding RNAs generated from both animal and plant RNA viruses, after a brief review of non-coding RNAs of DNA viruses.View full abstractDownload PDF (738K)
Special Issue 1: Viral Entry and Receptors
-
Satoshi KOIKE2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 189-194
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSEnterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16), belonging to family Picornaviridae, genus Enterovirus, species A, are causative agents of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD). Infections involving EV71, but not CVA16, can progress to severe neurological disease, including aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, acute flaccid paralysis and neurogenic pulmonary edema. EV71 is thus considered to be a neuropathogenic virus and EV71 outbreak has become a major public health concern. Human RD cells are highly susceptible to EV71, while mouse L929 cell are not. We established mouse cell lines that acquired EV71-susceptibility by transfecting human genomic DNA. We succeeded in identifying a human gene, scavenger receptor B2 (SCARB2), integrated in one of the transformant cells by microarray analysis and showed that SCARB2 can serve as a EV71 receptor. I will summarize this result, background and the methodology of the study.View full abstractDownload PDF (315K) -
Yorihiro NISHIMURA, Hiroyuki SHIMIZU2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 195-204
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSEnterovirus 71 (EV71) is a major causative agent of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), a common febrile disease in young children. Although clinical manifestations of HFMD are usually mild and self-limiting, EV71 can cause large outbreaks of HFMD including severe neurological complications. We identified human P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1; CD162) as a functional receptor for EV71 using an expression cloning method with a human T cell cDNA library by panning. PSGL-1 is a sialomucin membrane protein, expressed on leukocytes, that has a major role in early stages of inflammation by interacting with selections and chemokines. EV71 specifically binds to the N terminal region of PSGL-1 and the expression of human PSGL-1 allowed EV71 replication in nonsusceptible mouse cells, suggesting that PSGL-1 is a functional EV71 receptor. We found the presence of strain-specific EV71 replication in leukocytes. In addition, EV71 replicates in nonleukocyte cell lines in a PSGL-1-independent manner. Thus, further elucidation of the PSGL-1-dependent EV71 replication may provide valuable insights into the molecular basis of EV71 infection including HFMD and various neurological diseases.View full abstractDownload PDF (3073K) -
Kosuke MIYAUCHI2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 205-214
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe fusion between viral and cellular membranes is the first critical step of the enveloped viral infection. This is promoted by the drastic conformational change of the viral fusion protein. The conformational change is driven by various cues that are different in each fusion protein. The divergent nature of the induction mechanism of fusion proteins tells us that the regulation of membrane fusion process is substantially important to viral infection. Historically, enveloped viruses were categorized into pH-dependent and pH-independent groups for their entry processes. It has been thought that the pH-independent viruses mainly fuse to cell membrane at the cell surface whereas pH-dependent viruses fuse to endosomal membrane. However, the recent studies suggest that some pH-independent viruses including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) also utilize the endocytosis pathway to achieve infection. In addition, it has been revealed that the host factors other than receptors play crucial roles in the entry of enveloped viruses. This review summarizes the entry process of enveloped viruses and focuses on the current topics of HIV entry.View full abstractDownload PDF (1983K) -
Fumihiro TAGUCHI, Shutoku MATSUYAMA2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 215-222
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSEnveloped viruses enter into cells via fusion of their envelope and cellular membrane. Spike (S) protein of coronavirus (CoV) is responsible for entry events. We studied the cell entry mechanisms of two different CoVs, murine coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). MHV-JHM that induces syncytia in infected cells entered directly from cell surface, i.e., fusion of envelope and plasma membrane, whereas SARS-CoV and MHV-2 that fail to induce syncytia entered via endosome in a protease-dependent fashion, i.e., fusion of envelope and endosomal membrane. The latter viruses entered directly from cell surface, when receptor-bound viruses were treated with proteases that activate fusion activity of their S proteins. The entry pathway of SARS-CoV could influence the severity of the disease. It was also reveled that a highly neurovirulent JHM spread in a receptor-independent fashion, which could result in a high neuropathogenicity of the virus.View full abstractDownload PDF (816K) -
Takayuki MIYAZAWA2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 223-242
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSDiseases caused by animal retroviruses have been recognized since 19th century in veterinary field. Most livestock and companion animals have own retroviruses. To disclose the receptors for these retroviruses will be useful for understanding retroviral pathogenesis, developments of anti-retroviral drugs and vectors for human and animal gene therapies. Of retroviruses in veterinary field, receptors for the following viruses have been identified; equine infectious anemia virus, feline immunodeficiency virus, feline leukemia virus subgroups A, B, C, and T, Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus, enzootic nasal tumor virus, avian leukosis virus subgroups A, B, C, D, E, and J, reticuloendotheliosis virus, RD-114 virus (a feline endogenous retrovirus), and porcine endogenous retrovirus subgroup A. Primate lentiviruses require two molecules (CD4 and chemokine receptors such as CXCR4) as receptors. Likewise, feline immunodeficiency virus also requires two molecules, i.e., CD134 (an activation marker of CD4 T cells) and CXCR4 in infection. Gammaretroviruses utilize multi-spanning transmembrane proteins, most of which are transporters of amino acids, vitamins and inorganic ions. Betaretroviruses and alpharetroviruses utilize transmembrane and/or GPI-anchored proteins as receptors. In this review, I overviewed receptors for animal retroviruses in veterinary field.View full abstractDownload PDF (784K)
Special Issue 2: The State and the Future of Vaccine Strategy
-
Hiroyuki YOSHIKAWA2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 243-248
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSIn developed countries including Japan, cervical cancer tends to affect younger woman who may be responsible for young children. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in the world. Therefore, the social consequences of the disease can be still tremendous. For cervical cancer prevention, vaccination programs against the two major cancer-causing types (HPV-16/18) started in the world. There are two licensed HPV vaccines; Gardasil (HPV-6/11/16/18) and Cervarix (HPV-16/18). Clinical trials have shown that these vaccines are almost 100% effective in preventing high-grade precancer associated with the HPV types and that these vaccines are safe, well tolerated and highly immunogenic. In 26 countries, universal vaccination of females between 9 and 15 years is recommended and 65-100% of the cost of the vaccine is paid for by the state. We all look with eager anticipation towards the prospects of HPV vaccines and the perspective of eradicating cervical cancer in the not too distant future.View full abstractDownload PDF (1326K) -
Yoshizo ASANO2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 249-256
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe vaccine virus was isolated from a vesicle of a 3-year-old otherwise healthy boy called Oka (his family name) who had typical varicella. This virus was passaged through human embryonic lung cells, guinea pig embryonic cells at a low temperature, and human diploid cells (WI-38). It was then adapted to MRC-5 human diploid cells for vaccine preparation. The vaccine contains cell-free virus with a minimum of 1000 plaque forming units per dose and suitable stabilizers. In 1974 the vaccine was administered to hospitalized children immediately after the occurrence of an index varicella case because preventive methods, such as administration of VZV immune globulin, were unavailable at the time. The vaccine prevented the spread of varicella throughout the children's ward of the hospital. Subsequently, the vaccine was shown to be immunogenic, well tolerated, and efficacious even in high-risk children. The vaccine has been studied extensively with largely favorable results.
The vaccine was initially licensed in Japan in 1987 for high-risk children but was extended just after licensure to include normal children based on the needs of parents and physicians. Because varicella vaccination is not compulsory in Japan, only approximately 40% of Japanese children received the vaccine in 2008. This low level of coverage was not sufficient to alter the circulation of wild-type VZV, and the epidemiology of natural varicella has not changed since the vaccine was introduced. The most dramatic changes were reported in the USA after the introduction of a universal immunization strategy in 1996, causing vaccine coverage to increase to 89% in 2006. As a result, there have been substantial declines among both children and adults in the incidence of varicella, hospitalizations and ambulatory visits for varicella, mortality due to varicella, varicella-related complications, and overall expenditures for varicella-related illnesses. The vaccine is now commercially available worldwide and was administered to approximately 16 million individuals in approximately 80 countries in 2006. The universal immunization strategy should be introduced in Japan as soon as possible.View full abstractDownload PDF (540K) -
Tetsuo NAKAYAMA2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 257-266
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSFurther attenuated live measles vaccine strains were developed through passages in chick embryo cells or other non-permissive cells from the Edmonston strain. The number of measles patients has reduced through worldwide acceptance of measles vaccine. Measles elimination was achieved in American continents and the goal of measles elimination in Western Pacific region was aimed by 2012. Recent development of molecular techniques facilitates the reverse genetics to recover the infectious virus from the cDNA clone constructed from measles RNA genome. Using this technology, characteristics of attenuated measles vaccine strain were investigated and new approach has started to develop the recombinant measles vaccine expressing foreign virus antigen(s) against the infectious diseases for which no effective vaccine is available. Besides infectious diseases, the oncolytic measles virus based on measles vaccine strains was developed for targeting cancer cells.View full abstractDownload PDF (1857K) -
Takushi NOMURA, Tetsuro MATANOA2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 267-276
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSIn the natural courses of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections, host immune responses fail to contain the virus and allow persistent HIV replication, leading to AIDS progression. For development of an effective vaccine against those viral infections which do not show spontaneous remission, it is important to elucidate which immune responses to be induced for viral control. This review focuses on antibodies and cytotoxic T lymphocytes, key adaptive immune effectors, and discusses possible mechanisms for HIV control by vaccine-induced antibody, memory B lymphocyte, and (effector and central) memory T lymphocyte responses. Finally, we mention the ongoing international project for a clinical trial of our Sendai virus vector-based AIDS vaccine.View full abstractDownload PDF (272K) -
Tatsuo MIYAMURA2009 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 277-286
Published: December 24, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: July 03, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSBecause of its unapparent infection and viral diversity, poliomyelitis is difficult infectious diseases to control globally. Nevertheless, effective vaccinations, global surveillance network, development of accurate viral diagnosis prompted the historical challenge, global polio eradication initiative (GPEI). Wild polio viruses are now confined in four countries, Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, at the very end stage of this program, it has been stagnated because of various reasons. From this, we can learn good lessons to control other infectious diseases including measles, influenza and etc. To share the passion to eradicate miserable infectious disease, poliomyelitis is the key.View full abstractDownload PDF (6704K)
- |<
- <
- 1
- >
- >|