SIMIAN VARICELLA VIRUS INFECTION AND LATENCY IN THE NONHUMAN PRIMATE

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Simian varicella virus (SVV) infection of primates shares clinical, pathological, immunological and virological features of varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection of humans. Latent SVV infection can be established in cynomologous or African green monkeys by exposing SVV-seronegative monkeys to an SVV infected cage-mate monkey. In this study, cynomologous monkeys latently infected with simian varicella virus (SVV) were irradiated with a single dose (200 cGy) of X-irradiation and treated with tacrolimus (80-300 mg/kg/day) and prednisone (1 mg/kg/day). Two weeks later, one monkey developed thoracic distribution zoster. In the other immunosuppressed monkeys and one control monkey subjected to the same stress of travel and isolation, virological analysis revealed subclinical SVV reactivation. Thus, SVV reactivation can be induced in latently infected cynomologous macaques providing an animal model to analyze the role of immunosuppression in varicella reactivation . We are continuing studies that test each drug or irradiation alone to test their role in reactivation.