Persistence of Foot-and-Mouth disease virus in epithelial cells
A problem presented at the UK MMSG Southampton 2007.
- Presented by:
- (Institute for Animal Health)
- (Institute for Animal Health)
- Participants:
Problem Description
Foot and Mouth Disease is of huge socio-economic importance, as well as the cause of significant animal suffering around the world. The virus, which is highly contagious, primarily infects epithelial (skin) cells in the mouth and on the feet, where symptoms are most easily seen (hence the name).
In the epithelium of the skin and tongue the virus rapidly replicates, killing the cell and resulting in vesicular lesions. Eventually the immune response tends to clear the virus from the system and these symptoms gradually disappear. In the epithelium of the soft palate, however, the virus replicates in a manner not fatal to the cells and can persist long after the animal has recovered. Such "carrier" animals present a risk in that, while perfectly healthy and potentially immune themselves, they could transmit the disease to other susceptible animals.
We wish to explore the potential mechanisms within epithelial cells which result in such dramatically different virus behaviour. These cells are fundamentally the same, and it is unclear as to which of the relatively minor differences might be responsible for the bifurcation in virus-cell dynamics. We hope that an intracellular model might indicate which aspects of the system are potentially responsible and thus help guide future experimental work.