Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Mikrobiyoloji Bulteni, cilt.40, sa.4, ss.307-315, 2006 (SCI-Expanded)
Mutations or variants that impair function of ribonuclease L (RNase-L), particularly R462Q, have been proposed as susceptibility factors for the innate antiviral response. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the expression levels of RNase-L and mutation of R462Q in the tonsils of tonsillectomy patients who were infected and not infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6). Six tonsils were included in the study. One tonsil was infected with all of these three viruses, two were infected with at least one of these viruses, and three were not infected with these viruses. The presence of viral DNAs in the tonsil tissues had been searched by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in our previous study. Reverse transcriptase PCR method was used for RNase-L expression analyses, and single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and direct sequencing methods were used for the mutation analyses. PCR products containing R462Q mutation site in the genomic DNA were used for SSCP analysis. In addition to SSCP analyses, partial sequencing of the cDNA PCR product containing R462Q mutation site were performed. As a result, no difference between the virus-infected and non-infected tonsils for the expressions of RNase-L were detected, and there were no mutations detected by SSCP and sequencing analyses. It was concluded that other factors than RNase-L protein, might be involved in the innate defense mechanisms of tonsil cells against viruses.