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P Filippi

Publications and source records attributed to P Filippi.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

[Presentation of a case of spinal osteoid osteoma causing dorsal scoliosis. Role of high resolution CT].

A case of vertebral osteoid osteoma in a 19 years old female is described. The tumor was located at D7 right peduncle and was responsible for a mild left convex curve dorso-lumbar scoliosis. The patient had been complaining for 3 years because of a stablike pain at medio-dorsal level. The symptomatology was exacerbated by erect position, during the night and was relieved by salicylic acid. Diagnosis was suspected on the basis of scintigraphic and computed tomographic features and confirmed at surgery. Limited value of plain films and the importance of bony scintigraphy and high resolution computed tomography to establish the localization and nature of the lesion are stressed.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Structural and pathological effects of synthesis of hepatitis B virus large envelope polypeptide in transgenic mice.

Overproduction of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) large envelope polypeptide by transgenic mice containing the entire HBV envelope coding region leads to the formation of extremely long (up to 800 nm), occasionally branching, filamentous 22-nm-diameter hepatitis B surface antigen particles that accumulate within the endoplasmic reticulum of the hepatocyte and are not efficiently secreted. As the endoplasmic reticulum expands to accommodate the increasing cellular filament stores, the hepatocytes become enlarged, hydropic, and eosinophilic and also display the characteristic features of "ground-glass" cells. As filament storage progresses, the ground-glass cells undergo coagulative necrosis and the mice develop an age-dependent lesion, whose severity is related to the intracellular concentration of envelope polypeptide, that is characterized by focal hepatocellular degeneration and necrosis, lobular macrophagic inflammation, and increased serum transaminase activity. Advanced lesions demonstrate hepatocellular hyperplasia evident as lobular architectural disarray and microscopic hepatocellular nodules, many of which no longer contain detectable HBV envelope antigens. These changes may become extreme, producing a massively enlarged liver due to multifocal nodular regenerative hyperplasia. Overproduction of the large HBV envelope polypeptide exerts major structural constraints on HBV particle formation, leading to reduced secretion and progressive intracellular accumulation of hepatitis B surface antigen, which can reach sufficiently high concentrations to be directly cytotoxic to hepatocytes in this transgenic mouse system.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Expression of hepatitis B virus large envelope polypeptide inhibits hepatitis B surface antigen secretion in transgenic mice.

The outer membrane of the hepatitis B virus consists of host lipid and the hepatitis B virus major (p25, gp28), middle (gp33, gp36), and large (p39, gp42) envelope polypeptides. These polypeptides are encoded by a large open reading frame that contains three in-phase translation start codons and a shared termination signal. The influence of the large envelope polypeptide on the secretion of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) subviral particles in transgenic mice was examined. The major polypeptide is the dominant structural component of the HBsAg particles, which are readily secreted into the blood. A relative increase in production of the large envelope polypeptide compared with that of the major envelope polypeptide led to profound reduction of the HBsAg concentration in serum as a result of accumulation of both envelope polypeptides in a relatively insoluble compartment within the cell. We conclude that inhibition of HBsAg secretion is related to a hitherto unknown property of the pre-S-containing domain of the large envelope polypeptide.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

A transgenic mouse model of the chronic hepatitis B surface antigen carrier state.

In an attempt to establish a model of the healthy carrier state in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections, transgenic mice expressing HBV genes were produced. Fertilized one-cell eggs were microinjected with subgenomic fragments of HBV DNA containing the coding regions for the HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) and pre-S and X antigens. Either the normal (HBV) or metallothionein promoters were used to obtain expression of the HBV genes. There was no evidence of viral replication or tissue pathology. The integrated HBV DNA sequences were inherited in a normal Mendelian fashion. Three of 16 transgenic mice expressed HBV-encoded gene products to which they were immunologically tolerant. Expression was not tissue specific and may be influenced by the genomic integration site and cellular factors. Both HBsAg and pre-S antigen were detectable within the cytoplasm of hepatocytes and renal tubular epithelial cells. High serum concentrations of HBsAg were detectable and the secreted product appeared authentic as judged by mean density, morphology, mean particle diameter, polypeptide composition, and antigenicity. The absence of tissue pathology in these immunologically tolerant animals supports the hypothesis that cellular injury under these conditions is not a direct consequence of expression of the pre-S or HBs regions of the HBV genome.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Highly lytic and persistent lentiviruses naturally present in sheep with progressive pneumonia are genetically distinct.

Ovine and caprine lentiviruses share the capacity to induce slowly progressive and inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (leukoencephalitis or visna), lungs (progressive pneumonia or maedi), and joints (arthritis) in their natural hosts. Studies on their replication indicated that ovine lentiviruses and caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) recently isolated in the United States establish persistent infection in ovine and caprine fibroblasts, whereas older prototype ovine lentiviruses such as Icelandic visna virus or American progressive pneumonia virus irreversibly lyse fibroblast cultures. Since all of the recent isolates were found to be persistent, Narayan et al. (J. Gen. Virol. 59:345-356, 1982) concluded that the highly lytic viruses were only tissue-culture-adapted strains. In the present report, we isolated new ovine lentiviruses from French sheep with naturally occurring progressive pneumonia which are either highly lytic (five isolates), as are the Icelandic strains of visna virus, or persistent (one isolate), as are CAEV or American persistent ovine lentiviruses. Protein and nucleic acid content analyses of these new highly lytic (type I) and persistent (type II) isolates indicated that type I and type II ovine lentiviruses were genetically distinct, type I and type II viruses being closely related to the Icelandic strains of visna virus and to CAEV, respectively. We conclude that (i) highly lytic ovine lentiviruses, such as the Icelandic prototype strains of visna virus and persistent lentiviruses more related to CAEV, are naturally present in the ovine species, and (ii) irreversible cell lysis induced by highly lytic viruses does not result from a tissue culture adaptation of field isolates that were originally persistent but is instead the consequence of a genetic content distinct from that of persistent viruses.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Lentiviruses are naturally resident in a latent form in long-term ovine fibroblast cultures.

Long-term ovine fibroblast cultures contain replicative-competent lentiviruses in a latent form. This in vitro phenomenon, never described previously for lentiviruses, was clearly demonstrated by activating the expression of latent viruses with various inducing cell treatments, some of which were efficient in inducing endogenous retroviruses or latent herpesviruses. Activated lentiviruses were highly lytic in ovine fibroblasts (type I), or they established persistent infections (type II) as described previously for field isolates from sheep with progressive pneumonia (Quérat et al., J. Virol. 52:671-678, 1984).

Animals↗
PubMed1982

[An ELISA test for detection of maedi-visna antibodies. Comparative study with gel immunodiffusion and complement-fixation test].

An indirect microELISA test was performed for detection of maedi-visna antibodies in ovine and caprine species. The antigen consisted in viral particles, highly purified by successive ultracentrifugations. By comparative testing of 934 sera in ELISA and gel immunodiffusion, we found a good correlation between these two tests, and moreover, ELISA revealed another 11.3% of positive samples. The precocity of this ELISA was shown by experimental infection of sheep with different strains of maedi-visna: positive sera were detected 7 weeks post-infection, instead 4-5 months with gel immunodiffusion. The complement fixation test was compared with gel immunodiffusion and was found the less sensitive. This ELISA test appeared to be satisfactory, and may be used for early diagnosis of maedi-visna infection.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Precursor polypeptides to structural proteins of visna virus.

Visna virus is a retrovirus which replicates in fibroblast-like cells of the sheep choroid plexus through a lytic cycle. Visna virions contain three major low-molecular-weight proteins (p30, p16, and p14) which, together with the genomic RNA and several molecules of reverse transcriptase, constitute the core structure of the virions. The core is surrounded by an envelope containing a major glycoprotein (gp135). By analogy with the oncoviruses, these three groups of structural proteins (i.e., the internal proteins, the envelope glycoprotein, and the reverse transcriptase) are probably encoded by the gag, env, and pol genes, respectively. To elucidate the genetic organization of the visna virus genome and its expression, we studied the synthesis of viral proteins in infected sheep choroid plexus cells. Intracellular viral proteins were detected by immunoprecipitation of pulse-labeled cell extracts with monospecific sera raised against p30, p16, and gp135 and resolution of the proteins by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Immunoprecipitation with anti-p30 and anti-p16 sera allowed the characterization of the 55,000-dalton polypeptide precursor to internal virion proteins p30, p16, and p14 (Pr55(gag)). Tryptic peptide mapping confirmed the precursor-product relationship between Pr55(gag) and the three internal proteins. In addition, a gag-related polypeptide of 150,000 daltons was also detected. This polypeptide, which was less abundant than Pr55(gag), is a likely precursor to the viral reverse transcriptase (Pr150(gag-pol)). Pr55(gag) and Pr150(gag-pol) are not glycosylated. The precursor related to major envelope protein gp135 is a glycosylated polypeptide with an average molecular weight of 150,000 (gPr150(env)). Pulse-chase experiments indicated that gPr150(env) matures into glycoprotein gp135 intracellularly; however, gp135 was never preponderant in cell extracts. The non-glycosylated from of gPr150(env), which accumulated in the presence of 2-deoxy-d-glucose, appeared as a polypeptide of about 100,000 daltons. These results indicated that visna virus codes for the largest non-glycosylated env-related precursor among all of the retroviruses and therefore probably contains the largest env gene.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Intracellular ribonucleoprotein complexes of visna virus are infectious.

Sheep choroid plexus cells infected with visna virus produce intracytoplasmic viral ribonucleoprotein complexes with sedimentation values of 120S to 200S and buoyant densities of 1.29 to 1.32 g/cm3. These ribonucleoprotein complexes display an endogenous RNA-directed DNA polymerase activity and contain all of the species of RNA associated with polysomes. An analysis of the polypeptides present in the ribonucleoproteins allowed us to identify the mature internal virion core proteins and their precursor, Pr55gag, as well as the glycosylated envelope precursor gPr150env and small amounts of mature glycoprotein gp135. Ultracentrifugation-purified ribonucleoproteins could infect sheep choroid plexus cells and led to a normal lytic cycle with virus production. Our results suggest that visna virus can propagate by means of intracellular infectious particles.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Characterization of visna virus mRNA.

Visna virus is a retrovirus responsible for a classical slow infection of the central nervous system of sheep. In the present work we focused our attention on the viral mRNA's. We found that, during the acute infection in vitro, (i) viral mRNA's amount to only 0.1% of the total cytoplasmic RNA, (ii) 20% of the total cytoplasmic viral RNA is found in polyribosomes, and (iii) three viral mRNA's can be identified by sucrose gradient sedimentation or polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Their sedimentation coefficients are 36S, 27S, and 21S.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Absence of circularly permuted and largely redundant sequences in the genome of visna virus.

A previous study of the infectivity of visna virus proviral DNA suggested that the genetic information of the virus is distributed over at least two of the RNA subunits. Because the genetic complexity of visna virus corresponds to the size of one subunit, this result may imply that sequence redundancies exist within each subunit. In the present article we have examined this question by constructing a map of the large RNase T1-resistant oligonucleotides of the viral genome. Our principal results are as follows: (i) all 36S RNA subunits have the same genetic content regardless of their polyadenylic acid [poly(A)] content; (ii) the poly(A) tract is present at the 3' end of the molecule; and (iii) the recoveries of 19 large RNase T1-resistant oligonucleotides from poly(A)-tagged RNA fragments of various sizes demonstrate that the oligonucleotides are organized in the same linear order within all subunits. Our results, therefore, exclude the existence of large sequence redundancies in the genome of visna virus.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1977

Complexity and polyadenylic acid content of visna virus 60-70S RNA.

The genomic complexity of visna virus was measured by quantitative analysis of 18 RNase T1-resistant oligonucleotides from 60-70S RNA. T1-resistant oligonucleotides were separated by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Visna virus had a genomic complexity of 3.6 X 10(6) daltons, very close to the size of a single 30-40S RNA subunit. It was therefore concluded that the visna virus genome is largely polyploid. Visna virus 60-70S RNA polyadenylic acid segment was purified by T1 RNase digestion followed by oligodeoxythymidylic acid-cellulose column chromatography. It contained over 99% AMP and had a size of about 200 nucleotides. The binding capacities on oligodeoxythymidylic acid-cellulose of native 60-70S RNA and purified 30-40S RNA subunits were examined. It was concluded that two out of three intact subunits contain a polyadenylic acid segment.

Avian Sarcoma Viruses↗
PubMed1977

Visna virus RNA synthesis.

Visna is a classical slow infection in which virus characteristically persists in the face of the host immune response. The agent of this disease belongs to the retravirus group. The persistence of infection and the slow spread of virus are at least in part a consequence of restriction of the expression of virus genetic information in tissues of an infected animal (A. T. Haase et al., Science 195:175-177, 1977), but the point at which the virus life cycle is interrupted in vivo and the mechanism of restriction are unknown. We have embarked on a molecular analysis of restriction, focusing first on transcription. In this paper we have established the levels of viral RNA synthesis under permissive conditions, as a base line for subsequent studies in vivo. We show that (i) uninfected cells do not contain RNA sequences related to the visna virus genome, (ii) parental RNA is rapidly transported to the nucleus of the infected cell, (iii) virus RNA is synthesized in the nucleus and then transported to the cytoplasm (iv) synthesis of RNA proceeds mostly exponentially to reach levels of about 4,000 copies per cell at the end of the growth cycle, (v) nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA sediment in two size classes, 35S and 10-20S, (vi) viral mRNA has the same polarity as genome RNA and also sediments in two size classes of 35S and 10-20S.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Mechanical aspect of the heart sound emission.

The present paper deals with a physical study of the relation between the phonocardiogram and left ventricular pressure (LVP) fluctuations. Fourier analysis comparison of the two signals-simultaneously recorded either on pathologic human hearts or during experiments on dogs-does not point out an obvious relation between the phonocardiogram and a linear combination of the first pressure derivatives.-A mechanical model of the heart enabling the description of the sound emission mechanism provides a qualitative relation between the phonocardiogram and LVP fluctuations: the acceleration of the thoracic area is equal to the product of LVP by a time function depending on the mechanical properties of the muscle. - A theoretical thoracic acceleration obtained by transformation of the experimental LVP is compared with the experimental phonocardiogram through linear filtering analysis. The theoretical signal is in good agreement with the experimental one.

Fourier Analysis↗