Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1999 Sep;5(9):1039-43.
doi: 10.1038/12478.

Cytomegalovirus US2 destroys two components of the MHC class II pathway, preventing recognition by CD4+ T cells

R Tomazin  1 , J Boname, N R Hegde, D M Lewinsohn, Y Altschuler, T R Jones, P Cresswell, J A Nelson, S R Riddell, D C Johnson
Affiliations

Cytomegalovirus US2 destroys two components of the MHC class II pathway, preventing recognition by CD4+ T cells

R Tomazin et al. Nat Med. 1999 Sep.

Abstract

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous herpesvirus that causes life-threatening disease in patients who are immunosuppressed for bone marrow or tissue transplantation or who have AIDS (ref. 1). HCMV establishes lifelong latent infections and, after periodic reactivation from latency, uses a panel of immune evasion proteins to survive and replicate in the face of robust, fully primed host immunity. Monocyte/macrophages are important host cells for HCMV, serving as a latent reservoir and as a means of dissemination throughout the body. Macrophages and other HCMV-permissive cells, such as endothelial and glial cells, can express MHC class II proteins and present antigens to CD4+ T lymphocytes. Here, we show that the HCMV protein US2 causes degradation of two essential proteins in the MHC class II antigen presentation pathway: HLA-DR-alpha and DM-alpha. This was unexpected, as US2 has been shown to cause degradation of MHC class I (refs. 5,6), which has only limited homology with class II proteins. Expression of US2 in cells reduced or abolished their ability to present antigen to CD4+ T lymphocytes. Thus, US2 may allow HCMV-infected macrophages to remain relatively 'invisible' to CD4+ T cells, a property that would be important after virus reactivation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources