Characterization of herpes simplex virus type 1 recombinants with mutations in the cytoplasmic tail of glycoprotein H.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 glycoprotein H is essential for fusion of virus envelopes with cellular membranes and for the fusion of an infected cell membrane with an uninfected neighbour. Previous studies have pointed to a requirement for certain amino acid residues of the cytoplasmic tail of gH in these processes. Results from transient transfection experiments suggested that the serine-valine-proline (SVP) motif in the cytoplasmic tail may be important for gH-mediated fusion. HSV recombinants expressing gH molecules with mutations in the cytoplasmic tail were constructed and analysed in terms of their abilities to fuse cellular membranes and to function in virus entry. Viruses containing a deletion of the SVP motif, or in which the valine residue of this triplet was replaced by alanine, entered cells less efficiently than wild-type virus and were unable to induce syncytium formation on Vero cells.

Osteopontin is not a marker for proliferating human vascular smooth muscle cells.

Osteopontin (OP) is a secreted glycoprotein that contains the Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) cell-binding sequence that binds calcium and is chemotactic and adhesive for rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). OP gene expression is upregulated in cultured rat VSMCs in vitro and after balloon carotid injury in vivo, suggesting that OP may be a marker for proliferating VSMCs in vivo and in vitro. Our in situ hybridization studies of human atherosclerotic coronary vessels, however, have shown OP mRNA expression in plaque macrophages but not VSMCs. The current study investigated OP mRNA expression in cultured human VSMCs and macrophages and in an organ culture model of neointima formation in human saphenous vein. OP mRNA expression was not detected by Northern blot analysis of total RNA from subconfluent or confluent cultures of human VSMCs of any passage maintained in normal growth medium or after stimulation with TGF beta 1 (20 ng/mL), angiotensin II (1 mumol/L), or basic fibroblast growth factor (10 mg/mL) but was just detectable after stimulation with activation vitamin D3 (1 mumol/L). In contrast, cultured human macrophages expressed high levels of OP mRNA that were not dependent on lipid loading. OP mRNA was detected in isolated foci in all layers of saphenous veins maintained in organ culture for 14 days, including <2% of neointimal cells, a distribution that paralleled that of tissue macrophages. These results suggest that OP gene expression is not a marker for proliferation of human VSMCs in vitro and highlight a fundamental difference in the biology of human and rodent VSMCs.