RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Peacock, James W. A1 Bost, Kenneth L. YR 2000 T1 Infection of intestinal epithelial cells and development of systemic disease following gastric instillation of murine gammaherpesvirus-68 JF Journal of General Virology, VO 81 IS 2 SP 421 OP 429 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-81-2-421 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2099, AB Murine gammaherpesvirus-68 (γHV-68) induces a lymphocytosis in mice and establishes a latent infection of B lymphocytes following intranasal administration in anaesthetized animals. Because γHV-68 is a gammaherpesvirus, it has been used as a model to understand the pathogenesis of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) infections. In this study, we investigated the unlikely possibility that γHV-68 could survive the harsh gastrointestinal environment to efficiently infect intestinal epithelial cells, and then disseminate from mucosal sites to cause systemic disease. Surprisingly, oral administration, or gastric instillation which by-passed the oral cavity, readily caused a systemic lymphocytosis and established a latent infection in splenic leukocytes. The finding that γHV-68 could readily infect adult mice following gastric instillation strongly suggested that intestinal epithelial cells could be productively infected. Unlike the more routinely used method of intranasal inoculation, γHV-68 given intragastrically resulted in lytic virus, viral RNA and viral DNA being present in isolated intestinal epithelial cells. Furthermore, γHV-68 RNA and DNA, but not latent virus, could be detected in epithelial cells as long as 30 days post-infection, suggesting that some of these cells might be persistently infected. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that γHV-68 can survive passage through the gastrointestinal tract and infect intestinal epithelial cells. Following infection of gut epithelial cells, γHV-68 can disseminate from mucosal sites to induce a systemic lymphocytosis which is similar to the disease induced following intranasal inoculation., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/0022-1317-81-2-421