Abstract
Because varicella zoster virus (VZV) is an exclusively human pathogen, the development of an animal model is necessary to study pathogenesis, latency, and reactivation. The pathological, virological, and immunological features of simian varicella virus (SVV) infection in nonhuman primates are similar to those of VZV infection in humans. Both natural infection of cynomolgus and African green monkeys as well as intrabronchial inoculation of rhesus macaques with SVV provide the most useful models to study viral and immunological aspects of latency and the host immune response. Experimental immunosuppression of monkeys latently infected with SVV results in zoster, thus providing a new model system to study how the loss of adaptive immunity modulates virus reactivation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 309-321 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology |
| Volume | 342 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2010 |
Funding
This work was supported in part by Public Health Service grants AG006127, NS032623 and AG032958 from the National Institutes of Health. The authors thank Marina Hoffman for editorial review and Cathy Allen for preparing the manuscript.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | |
| Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council | P01NS032623 |
| U.S. Public Health Service | NS032623, AG032958, AG006127 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Allergy
- Microbiology
- Immunology
- Microbiology (medical)