Koala retrovirus epidemiology, transmission mode, pathogenesis, and host immune response in koalas ( Phascolarctos ciner
- PDF / 829,579 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 78 Downloads / 179 Views
REVIEW
Koala retrovirus epidemiology, transmission mode, pathogenesis, and host immune response in koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus): a review Mohammad Enamul Hoque Kayesh1,2 · Md Abul Hashem1,3 · Kyoko Tsukiyama‑Kohara1 Received: 2 June 2020 / Accepted: 7 July 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Koala retrovirus (KoRV) is a major threat to koala health and conservation. It also represents a series of challenges across the fields of virology, immunology, and epidemiology that are of great potential interest to any researcher in the field of retroviral diseases. KoRV is a gammaretrovirus that is present in both endogenous and exogenous forms in koala populations, with a still-active endogenization process. KoRV may induce immunosuppression and neoplastic conditions such as lymphoma and leukemia and play a role in chlamydiosis and other diseases in koalas. KoRV transmission modes, pathogenesis, and host immune response still remain unclear, and a clear understanding of these areas is critical for devising effective preventative and therapeutic strategies. Research on KoRV is clearly critical for koala conservation. In this review, we provide an overview of the current understanding and future challenges related to KoRV epidemiology, transmission mode, pathogenesis, and host immune response and discuss prospects for therapeutic and preventive vaccines.
Introduction Koala retrovirus (KoRV) is a source of great concern to conservationists, as well as a source of great interest to virologists, immunologists, and epidemiologists. KoRV threatens koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) populations, both in the wild in Australia and in zoos around the world. Koala conservation has become an even more pressing issue of late as populations of Australia’s iconic marsupial species have been devastated in recent bush fires in that country, heightening the need to prioritize efforts against KoRV. However, lessons learned in the fight against KoRV will be applicable far beyond the field of koala conservation.
Handling Editor: Zhongjie Shi. * Kyoko Tsukiyama‑Kohara [email protected]‑u.ac.jp 1
Transboundary Animal Diseases Centre, Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kagoshima University, 1‑21‑24 Korimoto, Kagoshima 890‑0065, Japan
2
Department of Microbiology and Public Health, Faculty of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Barishal 8210, Bangladesh
3
Department of Health, Chattogram City Corporation, Chattogram 4000, Bangladesh
KoRV is a gammaretrovirus belonging to the family Retroviridae and was first identified in 1988 in a leukemic koala [1]. Subsequently, the KoRV genome was fully sequenced for the first time in 2000 [2]. KoRV has the typical morphology of a gammaretrovirus, with spherically shaped virions ranging from 80–100 nm in diameter [3]. KoRV has a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome approximately 8.4 kb in size, containing gag, pol, and env genes with long terminal repeat (LTR) regions at the 5′ and 3′ ends [2
Data Loading...
