Lentiviruses are a genus of retroviruses that can cause chronic and progressive diseases in various animal species, including horses. These viruses are characterized by their long incubation periods and ability to integrate into the host's genome. In equines, lentiviruses are primarily associated with Equine Infectious Anemia Virus (EIAV), which leads to Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA), a disease marked by recurrent fever, anemia, and weight loss. The transmission of EIAV occurs mainly through blood-feeding insects or contaminated equipment. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the molecular biology, transmission dynamics, and pathogenesis of lentiviruses in horses, as well as strategies for diagnosis, prevention, and management of related diseases.
Zhang Z, Ma J, Zhang X, Su C, Yao QC, Wang X.Gag intracellular assembly and export are very important processes for lentiviruses replication. Previous studies have demonstrated that equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) matrix (MA) possesses distinct phosphoinositide affinity compared with HIV-1 MA and that phosphoinositide-mediated targeting to peripheral and internal membranes is a critical factor in EIAV assembly and release. In this study, we compared the cellular assembly sites of EIAV and HIV-1. We observed that the assembly of EIAV particles occurred on interior cellular membranes, while HIV-1 was targeted to the plasma membrane (...
Tang YD, Na L, Zhu CH, Shen N, Yang F, Fu XQ, Wang YH, Fu LH, Wang JY, Lin YZ, Wang XF, Wang X, Zhou JH, Li CY.Viperin is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated multifunctional protein that regulates virus replication and possesses broad antiviral activity. In many cases, viperin interferes with the trafficking and budding of viral structural proteins by distorting the membrane transportation system. The lentivirus equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) has been studied extensively. In this study, we examined the restrictive effect of equine viperin (eViperin) on EIAV replication and investigated the possible molecular basis of this restriction to obtain insights into the effect of this cellular facto...
Scott S, Molesti E, Temperton N, Ferrara F, Böttcher-Friebertshäuser E, Daly J.Standard assays used for influenza serology present certain practical issues, such as inter-laboratory variability, complex protocols and the necessity for handling certain virus strains in high biological containment facilities. In an attempt to address this, avian and human influenza HA pseudotyped retroviruses have been successfully employed in antibody neutralization assays. In this study we generated an equine influenza pseudotyped lentivirus for serological screening. This was achieved by co-transfection of HEK293T cells with plasmids expressing the haemagglutinin (HA) protein of an H3N8...
Liu C, Cook FR, Cook SJ, Craigo JK, Even DL, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC, Horohov DW.Distinct from human lentivirus infection, equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV)-infected horses will eventually enter an inapparent carrier state in which virus replication is apparently controlled by adaptive immune responses. Although recrudescence of disease can occur after immune suppression, the actual immune correlate associated with protection has yet to be determined. Therefore, EIAV provides a model for investigating immune-mediated protective mechanisms against lentivirus infection. Here, we have developed a method to monitor EIAV-envelope specific cellular immunity in vivo. An EIA c...
Radcliffe PA, Sion CJ, Wilkes FJ, Custard EJ, Beard GL, Kingsman SM, Mitrophanous KA.Effective gene therapy for haemophilia A necessitates a vector system that is not subject to a pre-existing immune response, has adequate coding capacity, gives long-term expression and preferably can target non-dividing cells. Vector systems based on lentiviruses such as equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV) fulfil these criteria for the delivery of factor VIII (FVIII). We have found that B domain-deleted (BDD) FVIII protein inhibits functional viral particle production when co-expressed with the EIAV vector system. Although particle numbers (as measured by reverse transcriptase activity) ar...
Li H, Zhang X, Fan X, Shen T, Tong X, Shen R, Shao Y.Both HIV and EIAV belong to the retroviridae family and lentivirus genus. Two variable regions (V3 and V4) of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) gp90 and two variable regions (V1 and V2) of HIV gp120 possibly adopt the same topology. We have studied the N-glycosylation properties and B cell linear epitope distribution profile of these two regions. Our results indicated that V3 and V4 of EIAV gp90 are very similar to V1 and V2 of HIV gp120. The differences between EIAV virulent and vaccine strains are mainly located at these two regions. Vaccine strains lose two N-glycosylation sites at thes...
Rosati S, Profiti M, Lorenzetti R, Bandecchi P, Mannelli A, Ortoffi M, Tolari F, Ciabatti IM.Among animal lentiviruses, Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), Equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV) and Small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) are important pathogens associated with a variety of clinical pictures including immunodeficiency, anaemia, arthritis, pneumonia. The detection of viral antibody response represents a practical diagnostic approach in all lentivirus infections since they remain detectable long life. Capsid antigen (CA) is the major viral core protein and specific antibodies against this antigen are usually first recognised in infected sheep, goat and horse, remaining dete...
Southgate CD, Green MR.Lentivirus Tat proteins comprise a novel class of RNA-binding transcriptional activators that are essential for viral replication. In this study, we performed a series of protein fusion experiments to delineate the minimal protein domains and promoter elements required for Tat action. We show that a 15-amino-acid region of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) Tat protein, when fused to the GAL4 or LexA DNA binding domain, can activate transcription in appropriate promoter contexts. In the natural human immunodeficiency virus type 1 long terminal repeat, activation by Tat is dependent on multi...
Borroto-Esoda K, Boone LR.The endogenous reverse transcriptase reaction of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) has been studied, and conditions allowing synthesis of full-length minus-strand DNA have been determined. In contrast to results reported for other retroviruses, synthesis of EIAV full-length minus-strand DNA was not impaired by high concentrations of Nonidet P-40, a nonionic detergent used to make the virion envelope permeable. All components of the reaction were titrated for maximum synthesis of complete minus strands, and a time course under the standardized conditions was determined. Minor subgenomic ban...
Derse D, Dorn PL, Levy L, Stephens RM, Rice NR, Casey JW.The long terminal repeats (LTRs) of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) were examined with respect to their ability to function as transcriptional promoters in various cellular environments. Nucleotide sequence analyses of the LTRs derived from two unique proviral clones revealed the requisite consensus transcription and processing signals. One of the proviruses possessed a duplication of a 16-base-pair sequence in the CCAAT box region of the LTR which was absent in the other provirus. To assess its functional activity, each LTR was coupled to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase ...
Borroto-Esoda K, Boone LR.The endogenous reverse transcriptase reaction of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) has been studied, and conditions allowing synthesis of full-length minus-strand DNA have been determined. In contrast to results reported for other retroviruses, synthesis of EIAV full-length minus-strand DNA was not impaired by high concentrations of Nonidet P-40, a nonionic detergent used to make the virion envelope permeable. All components of the reaction were titrated for maximum synthesis of complete minus strands, and a time course under the standardized conditions was determined. Minor subgenomic ban...
Tang YD, Na L, Zhu CH, Shen N, Yang F, Fu XQ, Wang YH, Fu LH, Wang JY, Lin YZ, Wang XF, Wang X, Zhou JH, Li CY.Viperin is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated multifunctional protein that regulates virus replication and possesses broad antiviral activity. In many cases, viperin interferes with the trafficking and budding of viral structural proteins by distorting the membrane transportation system. The lentivirus equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) has been studied extensively. In this study, we examined the restrictive effect of equine viperin (eViperin) on EIAV replication and investigated the possible molecular basis of this restriction to obtain insights into the effect of this cellular facto...
Southgate CD, Green MR.Lentivirus Tat proteins comprise a novel class of RNA-binding transcriptional activators that are essential for viral replication. In this study, we performed a series of protein fusion experiments to delineate the minimal protein domains and promoter elements required for Tat action. We show that a 15-amino-acid region of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) Tat protein, when fused to the GAL4 or LexA DNA binding domain, can activate transcription in appropriate promoter contexts. In the natural human immunodeficiency virus type 1 long terminal repeat, activation by Tat is dependent on multi...
Rosati S, Profiti M, Lorenzetti R, Bandecchi P, Mannelli A, Ortoffi M, Tolari F, Ciabatti IM.Among animal lentiviruses, Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), Equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV) and Small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) are important pathogens associated with a variety of clinical pictures including immunodeficiency, anaemia, arthritis, pneumonia. The detection of viral antibody response represents a practical diagnostic approach in all lentivirus infections since they remain detectable long life. Capsid antigen (CA) is the major viral core protein and specific antibodies against this antigen are usually first recognised in infected sheep, goat and horse, remaining dete...
Radcliffe PA, Sion CJ, Wilkes FJ, Custard EJ, Beard GL, Kingsman SM, Mitrophanous KA.Effective gene therapy for haemophilia A necessitates a vector system that is not subject to a pre-existing immune response, has adequate coding capacity, gives long-term expression and preferably can target non-dividing cells. Vector systems based on lentiviruses such as equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV) fulfil these criteria for the delivery of factor VIII (FVIII). We have found that B domain-deleted (BDD) FVIII protein inhibits functional viral particle production when co-expressed with the EIAV vector system. Although particle numbers (as measured by reverse transcriptase activity) ar...
Scott S, Molesti E, Temperton N, Ferrara F, Böttcher-Friebertshäuser E, Daly J.Standard assays used for influenza serology present certain practical issues, such as inter-laboratory variability, complex protocols and the necessity for handling certain virus strains in high biological containment facilities. In an attempt to address this, avian and human influenza HA pseudotyped retroviruses have been successfully employed in antibody neutralization assays. In this study we generated an equine influenza pseudotyped lentivirus for serological screening. This was achieved by co-transfection of HEK293T cells with plasmids expressing the haemagglutinin (HA) protein of an H3N8...
Zhang Z, Ma J, Zhang X, Su C, Yao QC, Wang X.Gag intracellular assembly and export are very important processes for lentiviruses replication. Previous studies have demonstrated that equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) matrix (MA) possesses distinct phosphoinositide affinity compared with HIV-1 MA and that phosphoinositide-mediated targeting to peripheral and internal membranes is a critical factor in EIAV assembly and release. In this study, we compared the cellular assembly sites of EIAV and HIV-1. We observed that the assembly of EIAV particles occurred on interior cellular membranes, while HIV-1 was targeted to the plasma membrane (...
Li H, Zhang X, Fan X, Shen T, Tong X, Shen R, Shao Y.Both HIV and EIAV belong to the retroviridae family and lentivirus genus. Two variable regions (V3 and V4) of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) gp90 and two variable regions (V1 and V2) of HIV gp120 possibly adopt the same topology. We have studied the N-glycosylation properties and B cell linear epitope distribution profile of these two regions. Our results indicated that V3 and V4 of EIAV gp90 are very similar to V1 and V2 of HIV gp120. The differences between EIAV virulent and vaccine strains are mainly located at these two regions. Vaccine strains lose two N-glycosylation sites at thes...
Liu C, Cook FR, Cook SJ, Craigo JK, Even DL, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC, Horohov DW.Distinct from human lentivirus infection, equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV)-infected horses will eventually enter an inapparent carrier state in which virus replication is apparently controlled by adaptive immune responses. Although recrudescence of disease can occur after immune suppression, the actual immune correlate associated with protection has yet to be determined. Therefore, EIAV provides a model for investigating immune-mediated protective mechanisms against lentivirus infection. Here, we have developed a method to monitor EIAV-envelope specific cellular immunity in vivo. An EIA c...
Derse D, Dorn PL, Levy L, Stephens RM, Rice NR, Casey JW.The long terminal repeats (LTRs) of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) were examined with respect to their ability to function as transcriptional promoters in various cellular environments. Nucleotide sequence analyses of the LTRs derived from two unique proviral clones revealed the requisite consensus transcription and processing signals. One of the proviruses possessed a duplication of a 16-base-pair sequence in the CCAAT box region of the LTR which was absent in the other provirus. To assess its functional activity, each LTR was coupled to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase ...
