Phakdeewirot Piraya, Payungporn Sunchai, Chutinimitkul Salin, Theamboonlers Apiradee, Poovorawan Yong
Center of Excellence in Viral Hepatitis Research, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
J Med Primatol. 2006 Jun;35(3):136-43. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0684.2006.00156.x.
Lymphocryptovirus (LCV) is found in various non-human primates. As a herpesvirus naturally infecting gibbons it is closely related to human Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) with which it shares considerable genetic, biological and epidemiologic features.
We collected blood samples from 70 gibbons (51 Hylobates lar, 18 Hylobates pileatus and 1 Hylobates agilis) for further separation into serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC).
Only 13 of 70 (18.6%) sera were serologically positive for human EBV IgG but 64 of 70 (91.4%) PBMCs yielded the partial LCV DNA polymerase gene by semi-nested PCR, which we subjected to direct sequencing. All sequences showed 84% nucleic acid and 91% amino acid identity to human EBV. Phylogenetic tree analysis demonstrated gibbon LCVs clustered separately from other gammaherpesvirinae but closely related to LCV of other species.
Based on LCV DNA detection, we discovered a high prevalence of LCV infection among gibbons. Further characterization of non-human primate LCV might thus provide new insight into both evolution and pathogenicity of gammaherpesvirinae.
淋巴隐病毒（LCV）存在于多种非人灵长类动物中。作为一种自然感染长臂猿的疱疹病毒，它与人类爱泼斯坦 - 巴尔病毒（EBV）密切相关，二者在基因、生物学和流行病学特征上有相当多的共同之处。
我们从70只长臂猿（51只白掌长臂猿、18只戴帽长臂猿和1只敏捷长臂猿）采集血液样本，进一步分离出血清和外周血单核细胞（PBMC）。
70份血清中只有13份（18.6%）在血清学上对人类EBV IgG呈阳性，但70份PBMC中有64份（91.4%）通过半巢式PCR扩增出部分LCV DNA聚合酶基因，并对其进行直接测序。所有序列与人类EBV的核酸同一性为84%，氨基酸同一性为91%。系统发育树分析表明，长臂猿LCV与其他γ疱疹病毒亚科成员分开聚类，但与其他物种的LCV密切相关。
基于LCV DNA检测，我们发现长臂猿中LCV感染的患病率很高。因此，对非人灵长类动物LCV的进一步表征可能为γ疱疹病毒亚科的进化和致病性提供新的见解。
