Members of the Borrelia burgdorferi paralogous gene family 54 (pgf 54) are regulated by conditions simulating mammalian infection and are thought to be instrumental in borrelial host survival and pathogenesis. To explore the activities of these genes in vivo, a comprehensive analysis of pgf 54 genes BBA64, BBA65, and BBA66 was performed to assess the genetic stability, host antibody responses, ...

Infection of the lymphoblastoid CEM cell line with herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 results in a persistent infection with production of infectious virus. Evidence suggests that the persistent infection was not maintained by interferon or non-interferon-soluble antiviral inhibitors. Treatment of persistently infected cells with anti-HSV serum (termed CEMACR cells) or elevated temperature (39 d...

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) is a natural pathogen of the mouse and belongs to the Picornaviridae family. TMEV strains are divided into two subgroups on the basis of their pathogenicity. The first group contains two neurovirulent strains, FA and GDVII, which cause a rapid fatal encephalitis. The second group includes persistent strains, like DA and BeAn, which produce a bipha...

Golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) experimentally infected with West Nile virus (WNV) developed chronic renal infection and persistent shedding of virus in urine for up to 8 months, despite initial rapid clearance of virus from blood and the timely appearance of high levels of specific neutralizing antibodies. Infectious WNV could be recovered by direct culture of their urine and by coculti...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) establishes a persistent infection and causes chronic hepatitis. Chronic hepatitis patients often develop hepatic cirrhosis and progress to liver cancer. The development of this pathological condition is linked to the persistent infection of the virus. In other words, viral replication/multiplication may contribute to disease pathology. Accumulating clinical studies sugg...

Mycoplasma infection has been reported in immunocompromised cancer patients; nevertheless, it is not clear if persistent Mycoplasma infection could facilitate the proliferation of cancer cells in immunocompromised organisms. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between persistent Mycoplasma infection and malignant transformation in an immunodeficient host model. Immunodeficient...

Upon Ag encounter, naive T cells undergo extensive Ag-driven proliferation and can differentiate into effector cells. Up to 95% of these cells die leaving a small residual population of T cells that provide protective memory. In this study, we investigated the contribution of the BH3-only family protein Bid in the shutdown of T cell responses after acute and persistent infection. Influenza viru...