Cell culture and direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) assays have been traditionally used for the laboratory diagnosis of respiratory viral infections. Multiplex reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (m-RT-PCR) is a sensitive…
Retroviruses utilize cellular dNTPs to perform proviral DNA synthesis in infected host cells. Unlike oncoretroviruses, which replicate only in dividing cells, lentiviruses, such as HIV-1 and SIV, are capable of efficiently replicating in…
Rabies viruses, negative-strand RNA viruses, infect neurons through axon terminals and spread transsynaptically in a retrograde direction between neurons. Rabies viruses whose glycoprotein (G) gene is deleted from the genome cannot spread…
Interstitial fibroblasts are principal effector cells of organ fibrosis in kidneys, lungs, and liver. While some view fibroblasts in adult tissues as nothing more than primitive mesenchymal cells surviving embryologic development, they…
Understanding the origin of scar-producing myofibroblasts is vital in discerning the mechanisms by which fibrosis develops in response to inflammatory injury. Using a transgenic reporter mouse model expressing enhanced green fluorescent…