Direct infection of primary endothelial cells with human cytomegalovirus prevents angiogenesis and migration.

Human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) is a beta herpesvirus that establishes lifelong infection. Although the virus does not usually cause overt clinical symptoms in immunocompetent individuals it can have deleterious effects in immunocompromised patients, such as those on post-transplant medication or with HIV infection. hCMV is the most common congenital infection and can lead to serious fetal sequelae.

Human herpesvirus 6A partially suppresses functional properties of DC without viral replication.

Human herpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A) is a common virus with a worldwide distribution that has been associated with multiple sclerosis. Whether HHV-6A can replicate in dendritic cells (DC) and how the infection might modulate the functional properties of the cell are currently not well known and need further investigations. Here, we show that a non-productive infection of HHV-6A in DC leads to the up-regulation of HLA-ABC, via autocrine IFN-α signaling, as well as the up-regulation of HLA-DR and CD86.

Development and validation of a Q-PCR based TCID50 method for human herpesvirus 6.

Background: For titer assessment of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), IFA targeting viral proteins or a TCID(50) method with ocular inspection for CPE can be used. These methods rely on the subjective decision of the assessor, obstructing the ability to obtain unanimous results.

Findings: We have developed and validated an alternative TCID(50) read-out approach where infection in the titration culture plate is assessed by viral DNA load change by quantitative PCR.

Interdisciplinary analysis of HIV-specific CD8+ T cell responses against variant epitopes reveals restricted TCR promiscuity.

HIV-1-specific CTL responses play a key role in limiting viral replication. CTL responses are sensitive to viral escape mutations, which influence recognition of the virus. Although CTLs have been shown to recognize epitope variants, the extent of this cross-reactivity has not been quantitatively investigated in a genetically diverse cohort of HIV-1-infected patients.