Manganese superoxide dismutase induction during measles virus infection

Measles virus infection of B-cells results in marked alterations in proliferation and immunoglobulin production. Very little is known about the changes of gene expression, if any, during acute measles virus infection. To elucidate cellular genes that are induced during measles virus infection, we carried out a subtraction technique, representational differential analysis. The mitochondrial protein, manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), was upregulated in B-cells during measles virus infection. Although measles virus-infected B-cells did not secrete MnSOD into the environment, it was found, using an MnSOD mimetic, that intracellular MnSOD did inhibit proliferation of the B-cells. MnSOD also decreases the titer of virus produced from infected cells. Therefore, MnSOD seems to play a role in the alteration of immune function seen upon infection of B-cells with measles virus.