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Biomedical subjects

M V Viola

Publications and source records attributed to M V Viola.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1976

Reverse transcriptase in leukocytes of leukemic patients in remission.

A cytoplasmic particulate fraction from human leukemic cells has been shown to contain reverse transcriptase and its associated high-molecular weight RHA template. We attempted to detect the reverse-transcriptase-template complex in morphologically normal peripheral blood leukocytes from patients with acute leukemia in complete remission. Our assay system consisted of a velocity glycerol gradient and cesium sulfate equilibrium gradient analysis of the endogenous reverse transcriptase reaction product. Three of nine patients in remission had positive reactions determined by glycerol gradient analysis, and eight of 10 patients in remission had positive reactions by cesium sulfate gradient analysis. We were unable to detect the template complex in leukocytes of normal persons. Thus, normal-appearing leukocytes in the peripheral blood of some leukemia patients in remission seem to retain a number of biochemical characteristics, possibly viral related, associated with leukemic cells.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase in human brain.

A DNA polymerase lacking template direction for base selection has been partially purified from human brain. The molecular size, optimum reaction conditions, initiator preferences and chemical inhibitors of the brain enzyme were similar to calf thymus terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT). TdT has been found only in the thymus, and now in brain. The possibility exists that its function is related to biological property unique to these two organs.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

RNA tumor viruses as causative agents of chronic neurological disease.

These studies were designed to determine if RIDP was present in a particulate fraction of brains from patients with ALS and PD. Evidence that we have detected RIDP is as follows: (a) DNA polymerase activity persists in the presence of concentrations of actinomycin D and distamycin that inhibit most DNA-directed DNA synthesis (25); (b) the majority of endogenous DNA polymerase activity is sensitive to prior treatment with RNase; (c) the early reaction product is a 4-5 S DNA heteropolymer joined by hydrogen bonds to an RNA molecule; and (d) the purified [3H]DNA product anneals to RNA extracted from the enzyme-containing pellet more extensively than to normal brain RNA or poly(rA). The enzyme activity is in a cytoplasmic particle that can be sedimented at high speed and has the buoyant density of RNA tumor viruses (1.16-1.18 gm/ml). This particulate fraction is not disrupted by physical manipulation and maintains its characteristic density with repeated centrifugations. Treatment with the nonionic surfactant Sterox changes the buoyant density of the enzyme-containing particle to 1.24 gm/ml, the density of the onconavirus virion core. Synthesis of RNA-DNA hybrids by an endogenous reverse transcriptase reaction was found only in normal and diseased Chamorro brains. Examination of a limited number of normal and diseased brains from individuals who lived in the United States produced negative results (39). Definitive characterization of this polymerase activity and identification as a true viral polymerase will depend on purification of biochemically active quantities of this polymerase to determine its template specificities, its cation preference, the fidelity of its transcription product, as well as its antigenic relationship to animal virus and human leukemic RIDP. Of critical importance in these studies will be differentiation of this activity from normal brain DNA polymerase gamma and terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis↗
PubMed1975

RNA-instructed DNA polymerase activity in a cytoplasmic particulate fraction in brains from Guamanian patients.

Nervous system tissues from a number of patients with idiopathic neurological disorders were examined for biochemical evidence of RNA tumor virus infection. RNase-sensitive DNA polymerase activity was found in a cytoplasmic particulate fraction from two patients with Guamanian amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) but not in brains from two normal U.S. individuals. The buoyant density of the enzyme-containing fraction was 1.16-1.18 g/ml and could be converted to a denser region of the gradient (1.24 g/ml) by treatment with the nonionic surfactant, Sterox. The cation and detergent requirements for the endogenous RNase-sensitive DNA polymerase reaction were determined. The early (5 min) endogenous reverse transcriptase product was analyzed by cesium sulfate gradient centrifugation. RNase- and heat-sensitive RNA-DNA hybrids were detected in the product analysis of two ALS, one Parkinsonism-dementia (PD) brain, and two brains from asymptomatic Chamorros but not in brains from normal U.S. individuals and a number of patients with neuro-psychiatric disorders. The DNA product was a 4.5S heteropolymer that hybridized more extensively to RNA extracted from the enzyme-containing pellet from PD brain as compared to a similar fraction from normal U.S. brain. The DNA product appeared to be unrelated to Rausvher or visna virus 70S RNA as determined by RNA-[-3H]DNA hybridization.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis↗