Elsevier

Virology

Volume 384, Issue 1, 5 February 2009, Pages 151-160
Virology

The role of the cowpox virus crmA gene during intratracheal and intradermal infection of C57BL/6 mice

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2008.10.041Get rights and content
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Abstract

Intratracheal (i.t.) infection of mice with cowpox virus (CPXV), is lethal at a lower dose than intranasal (i.n.) inoculation. CPXV deleted for cytokine response modifier A (CPXVΔcrmA) was attenuated compared to CPXV after i.t. inoculation. This attenuation could not be attributed to differences in virus replication, immunomodulators, or cells infiltrating the lungs. Deletion of crmA also caused attenuation during intradermal (i.d.) infection. In contrast to i.t.-inoculated virus, deletion of crmA reduced virus replication at the site of infection. This difference correlated to increased numbers of CD3+ cells in CPXVΔcrmA-associated dermal lesions. Thus, crmA is a virulence factor in mice during either pulmonary or dermal cowpox infection; however the influence of crmA is more evident during i.d. inoculation. This suggests that the host immune response differs in the two routes of infection and emphasizes the need to consider the effect of route of infection when examining functions of virulence factors in vivo.

Keywords

Poxvirus
Cowpox virus
Intratracheal inoculation
Intradermal inoculation
Pathogenesis
crmA
Pneumonia
Mouse model of smallpox
Virulence factor
Attenuation of cowpox virus

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