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Sequence and analysis of a portion of the genomes of Shope fibroma virus and malignant rabbit fibroma virus that is important for viral replication in lymphocytes.

The 10.7-kb BamHI "C" restriction fragment of malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MV) contains genes that are important for its immunosuppressive activity. When this fragment is transferred to a related avirulent leporipoxvirus, Shope fibroma virus (SFV), recombinant viruses show clinical features characteristic of MV: they replicate in lymphocytes and alter immune function in vitro, induce disseminated tumors in recipient rabbits, and are immunosuppressive in vivo. The 10.7-kb BamHI "C" restriction fragment of MV was sequenced in its entirety. Its DNA sequence and the 14 ORF's derived from analyzing this sequence are discussed. Analysis of known open reading frames to which the ORF's from MV's Bam "C" fragment show homology permits us to identify some MV ORF's showing high degrees of similarity to known and postulated proteins produced by vaccinia virus. Functions for some of these vaccinia proteins are known, while functions for others are hypothetical or unknown. Further analysis of genetic determinants of MV's virulence has indicated that two overlapping restriction subfragments of the BamHI "C" fragment can transfer MV's virulent behavior to SFV. The 0.7-kb region in which these two subfragments overlap includes the C-terminus of MV orf C-7 and the N terminus of MV orf C-8. These correspond to the C- and N-termini, respectively, of SFV orf's D-9 and D-10 and to vaccinia orf's D-6 (early transcription factor) and D-7 (subunit of RNA polymerase). We sequenced the region of SFV's BamHI "D" fragment in this area and illustrate here the comparative sequences of this portion of SFV's genome and orf's. On the basis of comparisons between MV, SFV, and vaccinia in this area we discuss the potential significance of these observations.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Tumorigenic poxviruses: fine analysis of the recombination junctions in malignant rabbit fibroma virus, a recombinant between Shope fibroma virus and myxoma virus.

Malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MRV) has been shown to be a lethal tumorigenic poxvirus of rabbits derived from a recombination event between Shope fibroma virus (SFV), which induces benign fibromas in rabbits, and myxoma virus, the agent of myxomatosis. We have cloned and sequenced all of the MRV recombination junctions, which are located near the left and right terminal inverted repeat (TIR) regions, and present a composite map of the MRV genome with respect to the relevant gene products. The two junctions closet to the MRV termini, at identical positions at the left and right ends, are at nucleotide 5272 and result in an in-frame fusion protein (ORF T-5) in which the N-terminal 232 aa are derived from an SFV sequence linked to a C-terminus derived from myxoma. At the left MRV TIR the recombination junction distal from the terminus maps to nucleotide 9946 but leaves the adjacent gene virtually unchanged from its SFV homolog. At the right terminus, the relevant junction sequences from MRV and myxoma could not be cloned in wild-type Escherichia coli but were maintained stably in a recA recBC sbcB host. The SFV/myxoma junction at this location maps 5' to a growth factor gene (SFGF) which is related to those encoding epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor-alpha. As a result, the myxoma growth factor gene has been deleted in MRV and replaced in toto by the SFV gene. The recombination junction upstream from the SFGF gene creates an in-frame fusion in ORF T11-R in which the N-terminal amino acids are derived from myxoma and the remainder from SFV. In summary, MRV has received the following ORFs from SFV: at the left terminus T5 (fusion), T6, T7, and T8; at the right terminus, T5 (fusion), T6, T7, T8, T9-R, SFGF, and T11-R (fusion).

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Immunologic dysfunction during viral oncogenesis. I. Nonspecific immunosuppression caused by malignant rabbit fibroma virus.

Malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MV) is a potent oncogenic poxvirus that produces a rapidly progressive syndrome of disseminated myxosarcoma, immunosuppression, and fatal gram-negative infection. MV is probably a recombinant between Shope fibroma virus (SFV) and rabbit myxoma virus, and is capable of preventing or aborting the in vitro proliferative responses of rabbit lymphocytes to B and T lymphocyte mitogens. Proliferative responses to sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) are similarly affected, although MV does not alter ongoing antibody responses to SRBC. Splenic lymphocytes from MV tumor-bearing rabbits suppress antibody and proliferative responses to SRBC when added to lymphocytes from SRBC-primed rabbits. Finally, lysates of cultured splenic lymphocytes from rabbits given MV suppress both proliferative and antibody-forming responses to SRBC. When MV is removed from these lysates by UV inactivation or by centrifugation, the suppressive activity remains. We therefore conclude that MV induces immunologic unresponsiveness in rabbits by at least two mechanisms. First, a direct suppressive effect of added virus on in vitro lymphocyte proliferation is seen. There is no effect in this situation if an antibody response is already in progress. Second, spleen cells exposed to MV in vivo produce one or more soluble factors capable of suppressing both proliferative and antibody responses of normal lymphocytes.

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Virus-induced loss of class I MHC antigens from the surface of cells infected with myxoma virus and malignant rabbit fibroma virus.

Shope fibroma virus (SFV) is a leporipoxvirus that causes localized benign fibromas in immunocompetent adult rabbits that spontaneously regress due, in part, to a cell-mediated immune response. Myxoma virus (MYX) and malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MRV) are related leporipoxviruses that induce rapidly lethal generalized infections accompanied by tumors and immunosuppression. Because only these latter two viruses are known to compromise cell-mediated antiviral responses, cell surface levels of class I MHC molecules in SFV-, MRV-, and MYX-infected cells were investigated by fluorescent activated cell sorting analysis using a variety of different anti-HLA mAb. After infection with MYX or MRV there is a rapid decrease in the levels of detectable surface class I epitopes as detected by each antibody and by 24 h postinfection class I MHC Ag levels at the cell surface approach the level of background fluorescence observed with control antibodies. In contrast, only a moderate class I decrease is seen during infection with either SFV or vaccinia virus, an orthopoxvirus that is neither tumorigenic nor immunosuppressive. Surface class I marker loss induced by MYX and MRV is not simply due to nonspecific inhibition of total cellular protein synthesis by the viruses because class I levels decrease much further than the extent measured by estimating surface marker turnover in the presence of the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide. Thus the loss of cellular surface class I molecules greatly exceeds the drop in level caused by complete blockage of host cell gene expression, and must involve removal or masking of preexisting class I epitopes from the cell surface by MRV/MYX. Cell surface levels of the transferrin receptor are unaffected by MYX and MRV infection, suggesting the observed class I decrease is not a nonspecific effect on total cell surface glycoproteins. Analysis of cells infected with MRV/MYX in the presence of cycloheximide or of cytosine arabinoside, an inhibitor of poxviral DNA replication, indicates that the class I marker loss is mediated in part by one or more viral late gene products. A probable explanation is that MRV/MYX late protein(s) interact with the class I MHC complex to either physically sequester these away from the cell surface and inhibit their recycling or else induce a conformational change that precludes recognition by all class I antibodies tested. In either event, we propose that such a major perturbation of the class I MHC complex would likely downregulate the class I-mediated presentation of viral Ag required to initiate cell-mediated immunity to these viruses.

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Immunohistology of malignant rabbit fibroma virus--a comparative study with rabbit myxoma virus.

Malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MV) causes a syndrome that consists of disseminated malignant tumors and immunosuppression complicated by severe Pasteurella multocida infection and death. Tissues from rabbits given MV and rabbit myxoma virus were examined by direct immunofluorescence with the use of antibody against virus antigens. Primary and metastatic tumors caused by MV and rabbit myxoma virus were composed of soft tissue cells containing virus antigens. Skin appendages and epidermis overlying the respective tumors showed scant MV but abundant myxoma virus antigen. Both viruses were present systemically in the reticuloendothelial system. Epithelial cells from the liver, kidney, and lung of myxoma virus-infected rabbits contained virus, whereas in MV tumor-bearing rabbits, these cells were uninvolved. However, nasal mucosal and conjunctival epithelia, the locations of Pasteurella infection, showed squamous metaplasia and contained large amounts of MV and myxoma antigens. By analogy to other respiratory tract pathogens, these epithelial changes were probably etiologically significant for development of pasteurellosis in rabbits bearing virus-induced tumors. Thus by immunopathologic as well as clinical examination, MV produces a syndrome distinct from that seen with rabbit myxoma virus. MV induced severe immunosuppression despite T-lymphocyte hyperplasia in the lymphoid tissues observed. The combination of a systemic virus infection, epithelial alterations that impaired clearance mechanisms, and immunologic dysfunction is likely to contribute to the inability of rabbits given MV to survive their gram-negative infection.

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Myxoma virus and malignant rabbit fibroma virus encode a serpin-like protein important for virus virulence.

The leporipoxviruses Shope fibroma virus (SFV), the myxoma virus (MYX), and the SFV/MYX recombinant malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MRV) are closely related yet induce profoundly different diseases in the European rabbit. SFV, which produces a benign tumor at the site of inoculation, is cleared by the immune system after approximately 2 weeks whereas MYX and MRV induce a rapidly lethal systemic infection characterized by generalized suppression of host immune functions. DNA sequencing studies reveal that MRV and MYX possess homologous gene members of the T6/T8/T9 family originally described in the terminal inverted repeat (TIR) of SFV. We also describe a gene present in both MYX and MRV genomes, but which has apparently evolved in the SFV genome into a fragmented pseudogene that appears to contribute to the aggressive nature of MYX and MRV infections. Translation of this open reading frame, designated MYXOMA SERPIN 1 (SERP1), reveals a protein sequence with highly significant homology to the super-family of serine protease inhibitors (serpins) which also includes a number of other poxviral proteins. In the MYX genome the SERP1 gene lies entirely within the TIR sequences and is thus present as two copies, while in the MRV genome SERP1 is present in the unique sequences adjacent to the TIR boundary and hence is a single copy. The amino acid homology between the putative active site of SERP1 and those of other serpins predicts that the target enzyme will be different from the known catalog of serine antiprotease substrates. Deletion of this gene from MRV significantly attenuates the disease spectrum induced by the normally lethal virus. Although the MRV-S1 deletion construct (MRV with SERP1 gene deleted) grows in all tissue culture cells tested in a fashion identical to the MRV parent, the majority of rabbits infected with MRV-S1 are able to mount an effective immune response and totally recover from the virus infection to become resistant to subsequent challenge by MRV or MYX.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Transcriptional mapping of early RNA from regions of the Shope fibroma and malignant rabbit fibroma virus genomes.

Malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MV) is a recombinant poxvirus derived from Shope fibroma virus (SFV) and rabbit myxoma virus (D. S. Strayer, E. Skaletsky, G. F. Cabirac, P. A. Sharp, L. B. Corbeil, S. Sell, and J. L. Leibowitz, 1983a, J. Immunol. 130, 399-404; W. Block, C. Upton, and G. McFadden, 1984, Virology 140, 113-124). We report here the transcriptional mapping of early RNAs transcribed from the SFV sequences within MV and from the corresponding regions in SFV. Hybridization analysis and S1 nuclease mapping of RNA using viral DNA probes were used to define 5' and 3' ends of the various transcripts. The RNAs described here are transcribed in one direction in a densely arranged head to tail fashion similar to that described for some vaccinia virus early transcriptional units. At late times of infection the early SFV RNAs are not detected whereas the early MV RNAs are present in minor amounts. The early SFV and MV transcripts range in size from 3170 to 425 nucleotides (nt) long. All of the longer transcripts are produced as a result of read through transcription. Three MV transcripts contain fused SFV and rabbit myxoma virus sequences due to transcription through the recombination junction region in the MV genome. Two other MV transcripts are transcribed from a unique initiation site near another recombination junction region resulting in RNAs that are composed of SFV sequences having unique 5' ends.

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Malignant rabbit fibroma virus causes secondary immunosuppression in rabbits.

Shope fibroma virus (SFV) causes a localized, self-limited, fibroblastic proliferation in adult rabbits. Extracts of Shope fibroma tumors were found to contain a second virus that induces a rapidly progressive disseminated tumor. Dissemination of this malignant fibroma is associated with activation of commensal mucosal infection with Pasteurella multocida, causing purulent conjunctivitis and rhinitis and resulting in death from nasal obstruction. We have isolated this new agent by two cycles of plaque purification. It is a poxvirus that is antigenically virtually identical to SFV as measured by a plaque reduction assay, but behaves differently both in vivo and in vitro. We have called this virus malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MV). Electrophoresis of restriction digests made with HIND III indicates that despite the antigenic similarity of SFV and MV, the locations of HIND III sites in the two viral genomes are quite different. These experiments have enabled us to determine that MV was present in small quantities in our initial uncloned stock of Patuxent strain SFV. Lymphocytes from rabbits bearing MV-induced tumors responded poorly to both B and T lymphocyte mitogens. This nonspecific immunologic dysfunction is evident at or before the time when metastases and Gram-negative infection develop, and it becomes more profound as the disease progresses. MV-induced tumors may provide a model for Gram-negative infection and decreased immunologic responsiveness associated with malignancies.

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Immunologic dysfunction during viral oncogenesis. II. Inhibition of cellular immunity to viral antigens by malignant rabbit fibroma virus.

The ability of two related viruses--Shope fibroma virus (SFV) and malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MV)--to induce virus-specific immune responses in lymphocytes of recipient animals was studied. SFV produces a benign local tumor which regresses in 12-14 days. Using an assay for virus-induced lymphocyte blastogenesis lymphocytes reactive to SFV were detected, both in rabbits bearing SFV-induced tumors and in rabbits whose SFV-induced tumor had regressed. These virus-reactive cells were detected in peripheral blood and spleen, and in lymph nodes draining the primary tumor. In contrast, MV produces a disseminated tumor and eventual death. MV does not induce detectable blastogenic responses in lymphocyte populations. SFV and MV are antigenically cross reactive: rabbits immune to SFV do not develop MV-induced tumors, and antisera to each virus neutralize both equally. Lymphocytes from SFV-infected rabbits proliferate in vitro in response to MV that has been inactivated by ultraviolet light (uv/MV) but not to infectious MV. In contrast, lymphocytes from rabbits infected with MV do not respond to uv-inactivated MV or to SFV. Thus, infectious MV inhibits the development of normal blastogenic responses in vivo and prevents the expression of those responses in lymphocytes from MV-resistant, SFV-immune rabbits in vitro. The relevance of this impairment to the differences in the clinical courses of SFV- and MV-induced tumors is discussed.

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Malignant rabbit fibroma virus: observations on the culture and histopathologic characteristics of a new virus-induced rabbit tumor.

The clinical, histopathologic, and cultural characteristics of a newly isolated poxvirus, malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MV), were investigated. MV was isolated from tumors induced by an uncloned stock of Shope fibroma virus (SFV). MV, SFV, and rabbit myxoma virus were compared. Similarly to myxoma virus, MV grew to higher titer in vitro than did SFV and produced plaques rather than foci on rabbit kidney cell monolayers. Unlike the local, self-limited fibroblastic proliferations observed in SFV recipients, MV and myxoma caused a fulminant clinical syndrome characterized by malignant histology, metastases, and supervening fatal gram-negative infection with Pasteurella multocida. MV induced a large, protuberant local tumor and discrete metastases histologically resembling myxosarcomas. Draining lymph nodes contained metastases and showed diffuse cortical hyperplasia. Kupffer's cells were prominent in the liver, and macrophages were abundant in the splenic sinusoids. The lungs and trachea were spared, but the conjunctiva and nasal mucosa showed squamous metaplasia and atypia, with overlying Pasteurella infection and underlying tumor. Myxoma virus infection produced similar mucosal changes, but both of these as well as the epidermis overlying the myxomas showed cytoplasmic virus inclusions. Neither the skin nor the epithelial surfaces overlying MV-induced tumors nor the tumors themselves contained virus inclusions. Thus the tumor syndrome caused by MV differed from other known rabbit tumors. Endonuclease restriction digests showed that the MV genome resembled, but was distinct from, rabbit myxoma virus. Opportunistic infection associated with MV-induced disseminated tumor may be an experimental model for the infectious complications that often supervene in host-tumor relationships.

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Deletion of the growth factor gene related to EGF and TGF alpha reduces virulence of malignant rabbit fibroma virus.

The role of the epidermal growth factor homologue in malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MRV) pathogenicity was investigated by constructing a viral growth factor deletion mutant (MRV-GF-). Since MRV is a recombinant virus with a myxoma virus background but possesses some terminal sequences derived from Shope fibroma virus, the growth factor gene in MRV is in fact identical to Shope fibroma growth factor (SFGF). Although no significant differences were detected in the in vitro characteristics of MRV and MRV-GF-, a pronounced attenuation was observed after inoculation of the test rabbits with MRV-GF-. Animals infected with wild-type MRV uniformly developed a fatal syndrome involving disseminated tumors accompanied by purulent conjunctivitis and rhinitis. In contrast, although MRV-GF- recipients developed similar initial signs of the MRV disease syndrome, 75% of these animals completely recovered from the viral and secondary bacterial infections and became immune to subsequent MRV challenge. Tumors in MRV-GF- recipients displayed earlier and more prominent inflammatory reactions than their wild-type MRV counterparts and contained fewer proliferating cells. Squamous metaplasia and hyperplasia of target epithelia were less pronounced in MRV-GF- than in MRV infection. We conclude that SFGF is a major virulence factor in MRV infection and is responsible for at least some of the cellular proliferation observed at tumor sites. In addition, the diminished ability of MRV-GF- to cause hyperplasia in nasal and conjunctival epithelia may decrease the extent of gram negative bacterial overgrowth as compared to the parental virus and hence contribute to the dramatic reduction in the lethality of MRV-GF- infection.

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Morphogenesis of rabbit fibroma virus. Correlation with pathogenesis of the skin lesion.

Rabbit fibroma virus injected into the dermis of adult rabbit skin evokes an inflammatory, then granulomatous and finally proliferative or tumoral response. About 1 week after injection, the grossly visible nodular lesion reaches its maximum size and regresses, becoming hemorrhagic and necrotic. Unlike vacciiia, the morphogenesis of the RFV has not been validated satisfactorily. The present study shows that RFV-infected cells contain all the evolutive forms that have been identified during the course of vaccinia virus replication. In addition, long, twisting, intracytoplasmic lamellated inclusions were found in infected cells. These lamellae were composed of linear arrays of elongated, electron-dense fibers. When the inclusion was sectioned in a plane perpendicular to the fiber, the latter was found to be covered by projections approximately 160 A long, spaced at intervals of approximately 80-90 A; when sectioned tangentially, the lamellae appeared to be composed of tubules. Evidence is presented showing the similarities between the subunit of the lamellated inclusion and the virus membrane. It seems likely, therefore, that the viral membrane is covered by closely packed tubules approximately 160 A long. The lambellar inclusion is thought to represent abnormal synthesis or excessive formation of viral membranes. In addition to lamellae, which probably indicate some defect in virogenesis, some infected cells contained viral membranes partially or completely encircling the host's cell constituents, or fragments of viral membrane instead of viral matrix. Furthermore, structures resembling virus nucleoid were lying free in the viral or cytoplasmic matrix. The course of viral morphogenesis was correlated with viral multiplication and the kinetics of interferon production at the site of viral inoculation in the rabbit skin.

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Growth of malignant rabbit fibroma virus in lymphoid cells.

To understand better the immunosuppressive capacity of malignant rabbit fibroma virus (MV), we characterized MV growth in lymphoid cells. Replication of MV occurs in unstimulated normal spleen cells in vitro and is enhanced by adding T- or B-lymphocyte mitogens. In splenic T-lymphocyte preparations, comparable results are found: virus growth in the absence of mitogen, augmented by adding Con A. Unlike mature T cells, thymic lymphocytes support MV replication only when mitogen is added. When spleen cells from rabbits infected with MV in vivo are removed and cultured without mitogen, MV growth is again observed, with virus titer increasing about 10-fold per day of culture. In spleen cell populations from MV tumor-bearing rabbits, MV grows best in T lymphocytes, moderately in B lymphocytes, and least efficiently in adherent cells. When spleen cells are examined immediately following sacrifice, MV antigens are expressed solely on T lymphocytes from rabbits infected in vivo with MV 7 days previously. However, following overnight incubation in vitro a population of non-T lymphocytes displays cell membrane virus antigens. MV adapts itself somewhat to growth in lymphocytes, showing significantly greater growth in lymphocytes following passage in lymphocytes than is observed for non-lymphocyte-propagated virus. MV-infected lymphocytes also elaborate a factor that enhances MV growth in lymphocytes. Thus, MV replicates preferentially in mature T lymphocytes but will grow well in B cells as well. In vivo infection produces relatively small amounts of recoverable virus. However, when these lymphocytes are cultured in vitro virus replicates very well without added mitogens. These growth patterns may help to understand MV-induced immunologic dysfunction.

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The complete genome sequence of shope (rabbit) fibroma virus.

We have determined the complete DNA sequence of the Leporipoxvirus Shope fibroma virus (SFV). The SFV genome spans 159.8 kb and encodes 165 putative genes of which 13 are duplicated in the 12.4-kb terminal inverted repeats. Although most SFV genes have homologs encoded by other Chordopoxvirinae, the SFV genome lacks a key gene required for the production of extracellular enveloped virus. SFV also encodes only the smaller ribonucleotide reductase subunit and has a limited nucleotide biosynthetic capacity. SFV preserves the Chordopoxvirinae gene order from S012L near the left end of the chromosome through to S142R (homologs of vaccinia F2L and B1R, respectively). The unique right end of SFV appears to be genetically unstable because when the sequence is compared with that of myxoma virus, five myxoma homologs have been deleted (C. Cameron, S. Hota-Mitchell, L. Chen, J. Barrett, J.-X. Cao, C. Macaulay, D. Willer, D. Evans, and G. McFadden, 1999, Virology 264, 298-318). Most other differences between these two Leporipoxviruses are located in the telomeres. Leporipoxviruses encode several genes not found in other poxviruses including four small hydrophobic proteins of unknown function (S023R, S119L, S125R, and S132L), an alpha 2, 3-sialyltransferase (S143R), a protein belonging to the Ig-like protein superfamily (S141R), and a protein resembling the DNA-binding domain of proteins belonging to the HIN-200 protein family S013L). SFV also encodes a type II DNA photolyase (S127L). Melanoplus sanguinipes entomopoxvirus encodes a similar protein, but SFV is the first mammalian virus potentially capable of photoreactivating ultraviolet DNA damage.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Comparison of cytocidal and noncytocidal strains of Shope rabbit fibroma virus.

Seven strains of Shope fibroma virus were compared for their effect on rabbit cells in vitro. All but one of the naturally occurring strains examined in this study produced a similar response in the infected cultures. This consisted of continued cell multiplication together with changes in cell morphology and growth pattern. In contrast, a recently isolated strain of fibroma virus, the M1 strain, was found to produce a gradual cell destruction under the same cultural conditions. A comparison of the cytocidal M1 strain with a representative noncytocidal strain in vitro showed no differences in the rate of multiplication, plaque type, antigenic composition, or heat lability. Only minor differences were found in the tumors produced in rabbits by these strains.

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