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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Evaluation of Caspase Activation to Assess Innate Immune Cell Death
Published on: January 20, 2023
Caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus induces apoptosis in infected cells in vitro through the intrinsic pathway
Angela Rea-Boutrois1, Guillemette Pontini, Tim Greenland
1Université de Lyon, INRA, UMR754, Université Lyon 1, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Lyon, France.
Abstract:
Caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) is a lentivirus that causes natural inflammatory disease in goats, with chronic lesions in several different organs. CAEV infection of in vitro cultured cells is accompanied by apoptosis, but the involvement of the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways has not previously been elucidated. We have studied the activation of caspases-3, -8 and -9 by fluorescent assays in various goat cells infected in vitro by CAEV, and the effects of transfected dominant negative variants of theses caspases, to show that CAEV-associated apoptosis depends on activation of caspases-3 and -9, but not -8. A simultaneous disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential indicates an involvement of mitochondrial pathway.
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