The gammaherpesvirus thymidine kinase

伽马疱疹病毒胸苷激酶

• 批准号: G0701185/1
• 负责人: Philip Stevenson
• 金额: $ 131.16万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2008 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=G0701185%2F1
• 关键词: gammaherpesvirus; thymidine; kinase

Herpesviruses are ubiquitous infections and cause many clinical problems in immunosuppressed patients. The most effective treatment to date has been anti-viral drugs such as aciclovir, which exploit a viral enzyme called thymidine kinase (TK). The gamma-herpesviruses have this enzyme, but it is a much weaker enzyme than that of alpha-herpesviruses, against which aciclovir was developed. We suspect that the gamma-herpesvirus TK has different functions, and might therefore best be attacked through different types of drugs.The human gamma-herpesviruses only infect primates, making many experiments impractical. We are therefore defining what the gamma-herpesvirus TK does using a related murine virus, called MHV-68. We know that the MHV-68 TK is important for viral replication in mice. We aim now to work out why, specifically whether it works in the same way as the alpha-herpesvirus TK, or whether it has very different functions that would be best inhibited in different ways. By understanding how the MHV-68 TK works, we should be able to provide a basis for effective TK-based therapies in gamma-herpesvirus infections.

疱疹病毒是普遍存在的感染，在免疫抑制患者中引起许多临床问题。迄今为止最有效的治疗方法是抗病毒药物，如阿昔洛韦，它利用一种名为胸苷激酶（TK）的病毒酶。-疱疹病毒有这种酶，但它比-疱疹病毒的酶弱得多，阿昔洛韦是针对-疱疹病毒开发的。我们怀疑γ -疱疹病毒TK具有不同的功能，因此可能最好通过不同类型的药物进行攻击。人类γ -疱疹病毒只感染灵长类动物，这使得许多实验不切实际。因此，我们正在使用一种名为MHV-68的相关小鼠病毒来定义γ -疱疹病毒TK的作用。我们知道mhv - 68tk对小鼠体内的病毒复制很重要。我们现在的目标是找出原因，特别是它是否以与α -疱疹病毒TK相同的方式起作用，或者它是否具有非常不同的功能，以不同的方式最好地抑制。通过了解MHV-68 TK如何起作用，我们应该能够为基于TK的有效治疗γ -疱疹病毒感染提供基础。