Transgenic expression of protective molecules in porcine cells and tissues is a promising approach to prevent xenograft rejection. Viruses have developed various strategies to escape the host's immune system. We generated porcine B cells (B cell line L23) expressing the human adenovirus protein E3/49K or the human cytomegalovirus protein pUL11 and investigated how human T, NK and B cell responses are affected by the expression of the viral proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman cytomegalovirus (HCMV) encodes numerous immunomodulatory genes that facilitate its persistence. Previously described mechanisms by which HCMV avoids T cell control typically involve evasion of detection by infected cells. Here, we show that the virus also inhibits T cells directly via an interaction between the pUL11 glycoprotein on infected cells and the CD45 phosphatase on T cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a widespread pathogen, infection with which can cause severe disease for immunocompromised individuals. The complex changes wrought on the host's immune system during both productive and latent HCMV infection are well known. Infected cells are masked and manipulated and uninfected immune cells are also affected; peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proliferation is reduced and cytokine profiles altered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies allow comprehensive studies of genetic diversity over the entire genome of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a significant pathogen for immunocompromised individuals.
Methods: Next-generation sequencing was performed on target enriched sequence libraries prepared directly from a variety of clinical specimens (blood, urine, breast milk, respiratory samples, biopsies, and vitreous humor) obtained longitudinally or from different anatomical compartments from 20 HCMV-infected patients (renal transplant recipients, stem cell transplant recipients, and congenitally infected children).
Results: De novo-assembled HCMV genome sequences were obtained for 57 of 68 sequenced samples.
Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) exerts diverse and complex effects on the immune system, not all of which have been attributed to viral genes. Acute CMV infection results in transient restrictions in T cell proliferative ability, which can impair the control of the virus and increase the risk of secondary infections in patients with weakened or immature immune systems. In a search for new immunomodulatory proteins, we investigated the UL11 protein, a member of the CMV RL11 family.
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