Organotypic Raft Cultures and the Study of the Natural History of Papillomavirus
Jason M. Bodily, Samina Alam, Horng-Shen Chen, and Craig Meyers
from: Papillomavirus Research: From Natural History To Vaccines and Beyond (Edited by: M. Saveria Campo). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2006)
Abstract
Organotypic (raft) cultures have proven to be a valuable tool for understanding the natural history of papillomaviruses (PVs). Through generation of fully differentiated and permissive epithelium in vitro, insights have been gained into the response of PVs to differentiation throughout their normal life cycles, as well as how the viruses contribute to loss of differentiation and progression toward malignancy. In this chapter, we will focus entirely on studies of HPV biology that have used raft culture to arrive at important conclusions. We first review the history of raft culture and the use of rafts in the study of PVs and genital cancer. Studies of normal and altered differentiation, production of virions in vitro, gene expression and function during the normal life cycle, interactions with the cell cycle machinery, and malignant progression will be discussed. We will also examine studies that use raft culture to understand the immunology of PVs, interaction with other virus types and cofactors, and therapeutic testing. Finally, we will discuss areas of papillomavirus biology that remain largely unexplored but that are accessible for study through the use of this important technology read more ...
