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Review
. 2012 Oct 25;4(11):2448-70.
doi: 10.3390/v4112448.

Human cytomegalovirus encoded homologs of cytokines, chemokines and their receptors: roles in immunomodulation

Brian P McSharry  1 , Selmir Avdic, Barry Slobedman
Affiliations
Review

Human cytomegalovirus encoded homologs of cytokines, chemokines and their receptors: roles in immunomodulation

Brian P McSharry et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), the largest human herpesvirus, infects a majority of the world's population. Like all herpesviruses, following primary productive infection, HCMV establishes a life-long latent infection, from which it can reactivate years later to produce new, infectious virus. Despite the presence of a massive and sustained anti-HCMV immune response, productively infected individuals can shed virus for extended periods of time, and once latent infection is established, it is never cleared from the host. It has been proposed that HCMV must therefore encode functions which help to evade immune mediated clearance during productive virus replication and latency. Molecular mimicry is a strategy used by many viruses to subvert and regulate anti-viral immunity and HCMV has hijacked/developed a range of functions that imitate host encoded immunomodulatory proteins. This review will focus on the HCMV encoded homologs of cellular cytokines/chemokines and their receptors, with an emphasis on how these virus encoded homologs may facilitate viral evasion of immune clearance.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Homologs of cytokines, chemokines and their receptors in the HCMV genome. Schematic representation of the HCMV genome with the positions of the virus encoded homologs of cytokines, chemokines and their receptors indicated. Spliced genes are indicated (^) and the two proteins produced from the UL111A ORF are depicted in black. The terminal and internal repeats flanking the unique long (UL) region of the genome (TRL and IRL, respectively) and the terminal and internal repeats flanking the unique short (US) genome region (TRS and IRS , respectively) are also depicted.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overview of the functions of cmvIL-10 and LAcmvIL-10. Biological functions of cmvIL-10 and LAcmvIL-10 on immune cells include a range of effects on cellular proteins expressed by myeloid lineage cells during various stages of differentiation/maturation, as well as effects on plasmacytoid dendritic cells and B cells. ↑ indicates upregulation and ↓ indicates suppression.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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