Phagocytosis of latex beads is defective in cultured human retinal pigment epithelial cells with persistent rubella virus infection.

Phagocytosis, a secondary function of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells essential to sight, was significantly decreased, when measured with latex beads, during persistent rubella virus (RV) infection of human cultured RPE cells. A target for RV in vivo, RPE cells infected with RV (RPE/RV) ingested fewer fluorescent microspheres (26%) than did uninfected RPE cells (68%) (P < 0.001), as measured by flow cytometry. In RPE/RV cells, with characteristic RPE monolayer appearance and normal growth during subculturing over 6 months, persistent RV infection was shown by specific RV antigen immunofluorescence, by the presence of the RV genome in RPE/RV cell messenger RNA, and by recovery of cell-free RV after cocultivation with Vero cells. The adhesion of latex beads to apical cell surfaces of RPE/RV and uninfected RPE cells appeared similar, as imaged by scanning electron microscopy. Cytoskeletal actin, a component of phagocytosis in RPE, appeared altered in 60 to 75% of RPE/RV cells by antiactin immunofluorescence staining, as previously described in other RV-infected cells, but its role in the disturbed phagocytosis of latex beads was not determined. Persistently RV-infected human RPE is an additional example of RV-associated secondary cellular dysfunction in the absence of cytopathic effects.

[1]  W. T. Moore,et al.  Monoclonal antibody-defined epitope map of expressed rubella virus protein domains , 1991, Journal of virology.

[2]  C. Y. Wang,et al.  Effect of antiviral antibody on maintenance of long-term rubella virus persistent infection in Vero cells , 1990, Journal of virology.

[3]  T. Frey,et al.  Sequence of the genome RNA of rubella virus: Evidence for genetic rearrangement during togavirus evolution☆ , 1990, Virology.

[4]  D. Puro,et al.  Phagocytosis by human retinal glial cells in culture. , 1990, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[5]  M. Wainberg,et al.  Infection of cultured human fetal pancreatic islet cells by rubella virus. , 1989, American journal of clinical pathology.

[6]  E. G. Westaway,et al.  Rubella virus products and their distribution in infected cells. , 1989, Sub-cellular biochemistry.

[7]  M. Hemphill,et al.  Generation of defective-interfering particles by rubella virus in Vero cells. , 1988, Virology.

[8]  P. Chomczyński,et al.  Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction. , 1987, Analytical biochemistry.

[9]  E. Rayfield,et al.  Rubella Virus–Induced Diabetes in the Hamster , 1986, Diabetes.

[10]  M. Sakuda,et al.  Altered growth, differentiation, and responsiveness to epidermal growth factor of human embryonic mesenchymal cells of palate by persistent rubella virus infection. , 1986, The Journal of clinical investigation.

[11]  M. Waxham,et al.  Detailed immunologic analysis of the structural polypeptides of rubella virus using monoclonal antibodies. , 1985, Virology.

[12]  L. Cooper.  The history and medical consequences of rubella. , 1985, Reviews of infectious diseases.

[13]  The Hamster,et al.  The Hamster , 1985, Springer US.

[14]  M. Waxham,et al.  Rubella virus and its effects on the central nervous system. , 1984, Neurologic clinics.

[15]  M. Hall,et al.  Defective ingestion of rod outer segments by cultured dystrophic rat pigment epithelial cells. , 1983, Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

[16]  B. Mclaughlin,et al.  Surface-replica topography of retinal pigment epithelium during phagocytosis. , 1983, Experimental eye research.

[17]  P. Gouras,et al.  Growth characteristics and ultrastructure of human retinal pigment epithelium in vitro. , 1980, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[18]  U. Brunk,et al.  An approach to the exploitation of scanning electron microscopy in studies of cultures of human cells , 1980 .

[19]  K. Weber,et al.  Interaction of assembled progeny pox viruses with the cellular cytoskeleton. , 1979, Virology.

[20]  M. Burnside,et al.  Possible roles of microtubules and actin filaments in retinal pigmented epithelium. , 1976, Experimental eye research.

[21]  A. Laties,et al.  Actin filaments in apical projections of the primate pigmented epithelial cell. , 1976, Investigative ophthalmology.

[22]  N. Cremer,et al.  Isolation of rubella virus from brain in chronic progressive panencephalitis. , 1975, The Journal of general virology.

[23]  E. H. Lennette,et al.  Electron microscopic studies of Rubella virus. , 1969, The Journal of general virology.

[24]  D. Bok,et al.  Practical Remarks on Gout, Rheumatic Fever, and Chonic Rheumatism of the Joints; Being the Substance of the Croonian Lectures for the Present Year, Delivered at the College of Physicians , 1844, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal.

[25]  J. Melnick,et al.  RUBELLA VIRUS CARRIER CULTURES DERIVED FROM CONGENITALLY INFECTED INFANTS , 1966, The Journal of experimental medicine.

[26]  S. Plotkin,et al.  THE IN VITRO GROWTH OF RUBELLA VIRUS IN HUMAN EMBRYO CELLS. , 1965, American journal of epidemiology.