Research on factors regulating the activation of latently infection Epstein-Barr virus

本研究的目的是确定调控BZLF 1基因表达的因素，BZLF 1基因是EB病毒（EBV）潜伏感染向病毒复制周期转变的开关。Burkitt淋巴瘤衍生的Akata细胞具有非常独特的性质，即细胞处于EBV感染的潜伏状态，并且在通过抗免疫球蛋白抗体（抗Ig）处理细胞时转变为病毒复制周期。最近，我们已经从亲本Akata细胞中分离出EBV阴性亚克隆。从抗Ig处理和未处理的细胞中分离细胞核提取物，并通过凝胶迁移分析用特异于3个BZLF 1启动子区域的探针进行分析，所述3个BZLF 1启动子区域已被证明对BZLF 1表达是重要的（Shimizu et al.，J.Virol.67：3240- 3245，1993）。我们可以看到许多条带，但竞争实验表明，没有一个是特异性的。在不同条件下的进一步研究可能允许鉴定特异性条带。

This study aimed to identify factors regulating the expression of the BZLF1 gene which acts as the switch for shift from Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent infection to virus replicative cycle. Burkitt's lymphoma-derived Akata cells have a very unique property that cells are in a latent state of EBV infection and shift to virus replicative cycle upon treatment of cells by anti-immunoglobulin antibodies (anti-Ig). Recently, we have isolated EBV-negative subclones from parental Akata cells. By using EBV-negative Akata cells, we searched for cellular genes involved in virus induction from latent infection.Nuclear extract was isolated from anti-Ig-treated and -untreated cells and analyzed by a gel shift assay with probes specific for 3 BZLF1 promoter regions that had been shown to be important for BZLF1 expression (Shimizu et al., J.Virol.67 : 3240-3245,1993). We could see many bands, however the competition experiments revealed that none of them was specific. Further study with different conditions may allow to identify specifc bands.