The role of SARS-CoV protein, ORF-6, in the induction of host cell death.

In 2003, Hong Kong experienced an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and incurred huge economic and social losses. Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridisation of organs from deceased SARS patients revealed that the virus was not only in the lungs and intestines, but also in the liver, distal convoluted renal tubules, sweat glands, parathyroid glands, pituitary gland, pancreas, adrenal glands, and the cerebrum. The aetiological agent for this disease was a novel member of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV) family, with limited sequence homology to other coronaviruses.1-8 Coronaviruses are enveloped, plus-stranded RNA viruses that lead to respiratory diseases akin to those caused by avian coronavirus and infectious bronchitis virus. The SARSCoV encodes 23 putative proteins including four typical structural proteins: the spike, nucleocapsid, membrane, and envelope proteins.4,7 These four proteins contribute to the host’s immune response, as has been observed with many other transmissible viruses, such as gastroenteritis coronavirus, bronchitis virus, porcine respiratory coronavirus, and mouse hepatitis virus. In addition to the structural proteins, replicase 1a ORF, replicase 1b ORF and eight novel ORFs have been identified.