The Susceptibility of Primary Dermis Fibroblasts from the Chinese Tree Shrew to Human Cytomegalovirus Infection.

As a universal pathogen leading to neonatal defects and transplant failure, human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has strict species specificity and this has prevented the development of a suitable animal model for the pathogenesis study. The mechanism of cross-species barrier remains elusive and there are so far no non-human cell culture models that support HCMV replication. The Chinese tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri chinensis) is a small laboratory animal and evolutionary closely related with primates.