Skip to main content
Advertisement

< Back to Article

Entrapment of Viral Capsids in Nuclear PML Cages Is an Intrinsic Antiviral Host Defense against Varicella-Zoster Virus

Figure 5

PML cages sequester VZV nucleocapsids during infection of human skin.

Human skin xenografts in the SCID mouse model were collected 21 days after mock infection (A) or inoculation with VZV (B–D). Thick (5 µm) paraffin sections were analyzed by confocal IF microscopy after staining for PML (A), double-IF staining for PML and the VZV glycoprotein gE (B) or double-IF staining for ORF23 and PML (C and D), as indicated at the right of each row of panels. Nuclei are stained with Hoechst (blue). Images in A-C (left panels) are overviews of the same skin sections, including epidermal and dermal layers and hair follicles, after Hoechst staining (inverted grey scale). Blue and red squares demark areas shown at higher magnification in the panels on the right. Arrows indicate PML-NBs in the nuclei of skin cells. (A) Uninfected skin cell nuclei contain several small PML-NBs (green). (B) Infected cells have fused to form the syncytia (polykaryons). Large ring-like PML-NBs (red) are visible and VZV glycoprotein gE (green) is expressed on plasma membranes. (C) Large ring-like PML-NBs (green) sequester ORF23 protein (red). (D) A single skin cell nucleus showing PML-NBs (green) and ORF23 protein (red). All scale bars are 5 µm.

Figure 5

doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1001266.g005