title: Cytomegalovirus expresses the chemokine homologue vXCL1 capable of attracting XCR1+ CD4- dendritic cells.
abstract: Cytomegaloviruses (CMV) have developed various strategies to escape the immune system of the host. One strategy involves the expression of virus-encoded chemokines to modulate the host chemokine network. We have identified in the English isolate of rat CMV (murid herpesvirus 8 [MuHV8]) an open reading frame encoding a protein homologous to the chemokine XCL1, the only known C chemokine. Viral XCL1 (vXCL1), a glycosylated protein of 96 amino acids, can be detected 13 h postinfection in the supernatant of MuHV8-infected rat embryo fibroblasts. vXCL1 exclusively binds to CD4(-) rat dendritic cells (DC), a subset of DC that express the corresponding chemokine receptor XCR1. Like endogenous rat XCL1, vXCL1 selectively chemoattracts XCR1(+) CD4(-) DC. Since XCR1(+) DC in mice and humans have been shown to excel in antigen cross-presentation and thus in the induction of cytotoxic CD8(+) T lymphocytes, the virus has apparently hijacked this gene to subvert cytotoxic immune responses. The biology of vXCL1 offers an interesting opportunity to study the role of XCL1 and XCR1(+) DC in the cross-presentation of viral antigens.
authors.affiliation: Virology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Henriette
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Geyer
authors.forename: Evelyn
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hartung
authors.forename: Hans Werner
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Mages
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weise
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Belužić
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vugrek
authors.forename: Stipan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jonjic
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Kroczek
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Voigt
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D019744:Chemokines, C / Q000378:metabolism*; D002634:Chemotaxis, Leukocyte; D045142:Cross-Priming; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D017931:DNA Primers; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D019744:Chemokines, C; D017931:DNA Primers; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; C092390:XCL1 protein, human; C091671:XCR1 protein, human