Apoptosis induction by the infection with Gilchrist strain of rubella virus.

Apoptosis is an active process of cellular self-destruction, which can be initiated in response to several stimuli such as toxic substances, hormones, cytokines, trophic or osmotic modifications and viral infections. In this study, we demonstrate that in vitro rubella-virus (RV) induced cell death exhibited properties of apoptosis, characterized by condensation and segmentation of nuclei and internucleosomal cleavage of nuclear DNA. Apoptosis was not seen in the cells absorbed with UV-inactivated virus, indicating that the viral replication is required for the induction of apoptosis. Our results suggest that most of the cells undergoing apoptosis are non-infected neighboring cells.