Different transcriptional expression of the matrix gene of the two sibling viruses of the subacute sclerosing panencephalitis virus (Osaka-2 strain) isolated from a biopsy specimen of patient brain.

Two sibling viruses of the subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) virus Osaka-2 strain were isolated from a small biopsy specimen of the brain of an SSPE patient just before intraventricular interferon treatment by cocultivation with two different cell lines, Vero cells or B95a cells (Ogura et al, 1997). Both the virus-infected cells were found to be indistinguishable from each other in defective production of cell-free virus and in defective expression of the matrix (M) protein. The sequence analysis of the M genes predicted that they were translatable due to a lack of alteration of the translational start and stop codons for the proteins. A different pattern of the M monocistronic transcripts, however, was observed in a Northern blot analysis of the infected cells. This different pattern was confirmed further by a primer extension analysis. The undetectable expressions of the M proteins in the sibling virus-infected cells are most probably different in their molecular mechanisms. All these results indicate the possibility that the two different, replicable variants existed at Jabbour stage III of the disease's progression in a very small portion of the brain, where no lesion had yet been recognized by a magnetic resonance imaging.