Recent Progress in Henipavirus Research

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Comparative Immunology, Microbiology & Infectious Diseases 30 (2007) 287–307 www.elsevier.com/locate/cimid

Recent progress in henipavirus research

Kim HalpinÃ, Bruce A. Mungall

CSIRO, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Private Bag 24, Geelong, Vic. 3220, Australia

Received 1 November 2006

Abstract

Following the discovery of two new paramyxoviruses in the 1990s, much effort has been placed on rapidly finding the reservoir hosts, characterising the genomes, identifying the viral receptors and formulating potential vaccines and therapeutic options for these viruses, Hendra and Nipah viruses caused zoonotic disease on a scale not seen before with other paramyxoviruses. Nipah virus particularly caused high morbidity and mortality in humans and high morbidity in pig populations in the first outbreak in Malaysia. Both viruses continue to pose a threat with sporadic outbreaks continuing into the 21st century. Experimental and surveillance studies identified that pteropus bats are the reservoir hosts. Research continues in an attempt to understand events that precipitated spillover of these viruses. Discovered on the cusp of the molecular technology revolution, much progress has been made in understanding these new viruses. This review endeavours to capture the depth and breadth of these recent advances. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Hendra virus; Nipah virus; Paramyxoviruses

Re´sume´

Suivant la dećouverte de deux nouveaux paramyxovirus durant la dećade 1990–2000, beaucoup d’efforts ont e´te´de´ploye´s afin d’identifier chez ces virus les re´servoirs naturels, les rećepteurs viraux permettant l’infection, la se´quence des geńomes, ainsi que le potentiel de development de vaccins et d’agents the´rapeutiques. Ces deux virus, Hendra et Nipah, causent

ÃCorresponding author. Tel.: +60 3 52275054; fax: +60 3 5227 5555. E-mail address: [email protected] (K. Halpin).

288 K. Halpin, B.A. Mungall / Comp. Immun. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 30 (2007) 287–307 des zoonoses d’importances majeures jamais enregistreés auparavant parmis les paramyxovirus. Au cours de la premie` re e´pidemie en Malaisie le virus Nipah, plus particulie` rement, a cause´des mortalite´s et morbidite´s importantes chez les humains ainsi que de la morbidite´ significative chez les populations de cochons. Les deux virus posent une menace constante due aux e´pidemies sporadiques qui se poursuivent au de´but du 21ie` me sie` cle. Des e´tudes expe´rimentales ainsi que des projets de surveillance ont permis d’identifier les chauve-souris du genre pte´ropus en tant qu’hoˆtes naturels. Des recherches visant a de´terminer quels e´veńements induisent le transfer des virus chez d’autres espe` ces sont en cours. Due en grande partie a` la re´volution de biologie molećulaire, des avances conside´rables ont e´teáccomplies au niveau de la connaissance de ces deux virus. Cet article vise a pre´senter une revue de´tailleé des plus rećents progres accomplis sur ces virus. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mots cle´s: virus Hendra; virus Nipah; paramyxoviruses

1. Introduction

In 2000, Wang et al. [1] suggested the creation of the genus Henipavirus, family Paramyxoviridae, to accommodate two newly discovered paramyxoviruses that were quite unlike any other members of this family. No other paramyxovirus had ever caused such an explosive and devastating zoonotic disease outbreak as that caused by Nipah virus (NiV) in Malaysia in 1999. Nor had there ever been paramyxoviruses as promiscuous as NiV and the closely related Hendra virus (HeV). At the time their genomes were the largest of all characterized paramyxoviruses with NiV 18,246 nucleotides and HeV 12 nucleotides shorter [2].1 This increased genome size is in part due to the long untranslated regions (UTRs) at the 30 end of most transcription units, similar to that observed in the filoviruses Marburg and Ebola [3]. Unlike other paramyxoviruses the HeV P gene encodes five proteins, namely P, V, C, W and SB which is a small basic protein similar to those found in some members of the Rhabdoviridae and Filoviridae families [4]. For all of these reasons and more, NiV and HeV have been the focus of research in many laboratories around the world. However HeV and NiV are classified at Biosafety Level Four, which restricts live virus work to high biocontainment facilities. The ability to work on these viruses has been facilitated by the advancement of molecular techniques, which enable researchers to work on certain virus properties without the use of live virus. Using such systems, the henipavirus viral replication complex has been analysed [5] and recently NiV was successfully rescued from a full-length cDNA clone [6]. Further facilitating research on these viruses without the use of live virus has been the ability to produce NiV virus-like particles (VLPs) that are physically and morphologically similar to NiV [8]. Due to the lethal nature of these viruses, much research has been working towards developing therapies for prevention of infection and intervention. Key to this endeavour was the discovery of henipavirus receptors,

1Beilong virus currently has the largest genome in the family Paramyxoviridae, being over 19 kb in length [116]. Download English Version: https://daneshyari.com/en/article/2428590

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