title: Exploiting human herpesvirus immune evasion for therapeutic gain: potential and pitfalls.
abstract: Herpesviruses stand out for their capacity to establish lifelong infections of immunocompetent hosts, generally without causing overt symptoms. Herpesviruses are equipped with sophisticated immune evasion strategies, allowing these viruses to persist for life despite the presence of a strong antiviral immune response. Although viral evasion tactics appear to target virtually any stage of the innate and adaptive host immune response, detailed knowledge is now available on the molecular mechanisms underlying herpesvirus obstruction of MHC class I-restricted antigen presentation to T cells. This opens the way for clinical application. Here, we review and discuss recent efforts to exploit human herpesvirus MHC class I evasion strategies for the rational design of novel strategies for vaccine development, cancer treatment, transplant protection and gene therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Daniëlle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Horst
authors.forename: Maaike E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ressing
authors.forename: Emmanuel J H J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Wiertz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000276:immunology; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000276:immunology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D057131:Immune Evasion; D007167:Immunotherapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy; D050130:Oncolytic Virotherapy; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I