title: Human cytomegalovirus encoded homologs of cytokines, chemokines and their receptors: roles in immunomodulation.
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.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, University of Sydney, Australia. brian.mcsharry@sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: Brian P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: McSharry
authors.forename: Selmir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Avdic
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Slobedman
mesh_terms: D018925:Chemokines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D019743:Chemokines, CXC / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D023061:Gene Order; D006801:Humans; D056747:Immunomodulation; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D017385:Sequence Homology; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D018925:Chemokines; D019743:Chemokines, CXC; D016207:Cytokines; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine; D014764:Viral Proteins; C121017:viral chemokine CXC-1, Cytomegalovirus