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Chia-Chi Sun,
B. A., Biology, Our laboratory has shown that EBV establishes a persistent infection in resting memory B cells. The virus is latent in these cells. However, persistently infected individuals continue to shed infectious virus in their saliva. Recently we have obtained evidence that terminal differentiation of the latently infected memory cells into plasma cells switches on viral replication in vivo. Plasma cell differentiation is linked to the expression of specific transcription factors. We are attempting to analyze the roles of these factors in turning on the genes required to replicate EBV. |
