Replication of Norovirus in Cell Culture Reveals a Tropism for Dendritic Cells and Macrophages

Overview

Journal PLoS Biol

Specialty Biology

Date 2004 Nov 25

PMID 15562321

Citations 401

Authors

Christiane E Wobus

Stephanie M Karst

Larissa B Thackray

Kyeong-Ok Chang

Stanislav V Sosnovtsev

Gael Belliot

Anne Krug

Jason M Mackenzie

Kim Y Green

Herbert W Virgin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Noroviruses are understudied because these important enteric pathogens have not been cultured to date. We found that the norovirus murine norovirus 1 (MNV-1) infects macrophage-like cells in vivo and replicates in cultured primary dendritic cells and macrophages. MNV-1 growth was inhibited by the interferon-alphabeta receptor and STAT-1, and was associated with extensive rearrangements of intracellular membranes. An amino acid substitution in the capsid protein of serially passaged MNV-1 was associated with virulence attenuation in vivo. This is the first report of replication of a norovirus in cell culture. The capacity of MNV-1 to replicate in a STAT-1-regulated fashion and the unexpected tropism of a norovirus for cells of the hematopoietic lineage provide important insights into norovirus biology.

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