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From the Departments of Ophthalmology and Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh, PA.
Supported by Public Health Service grant EY 09397, a CORE Grant for Vision Research (EY 08098), and a Basil O'Connor Research Scholar Award from the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Paul R. Kinchington, Department of Ophthalmology, 1020 Eye and Ear Institute, University of Pittsburgh, 203 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
A live attenuated varicella vaccine, derived from a Japanese isolate, is currently being widely used to modulate disease caused by varicella-zoster virus. Differentiation of the vaccine from wild-type isolates has been and will continue to be critical in the assessment of the vaccine in the United States. This has largely relied upon identification of characteristic DNA polymorphisms in the vaccine strain. In this report, we describe the identification of a new sequence polymorphism, located in the N-terminal coding sequence of open reading frame (ORF) 10. This variation results in the synthesis of an ORF 10 protein that is differentially recognized by antibodies to an ORF 10 synthetic peptide. The variation appears to be completely restricted to Japanese strains, including that used for the live attenuated varicella vaccine. As such, this polymorphism and the antibodies that differentially recognize it could prove highly useful in the assessment of the Japanese vaccine in the United States.
NEUROLOGY 1995;45(Suppl 8): S13-S14
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