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Deciphering the CMV Infection: CMV Genome, Virus-Cell Interaction and Vaccine Design

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 December 2022) | Viewed by 5563

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, 28220 Madrid, Spain
Interests: cytomegalovirus; CMV genome; T-cell immune response; neutralizing antibodies; vaccine design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection continues to be an important cause of morbidity, especially in individuals with an immature or dysfunctional immune system who develop complications associated with the infection, resulting in an important public health issue. Besides the number of groups trying to understand the dynamic of CMV infection, the complex interaction between CMV and the immune system, the absence of an animal model able to reproduce human physiology associated with CMV, and the lack of information on many of the potential proteins encoded by the CMV genome have limited the knowledge about virus–host interactions.

This Special Issue will focus on basic science and translational researches to have a more complete comprehension of the CMV genome, factors that contribute to the CMV virus–cell interaction, and tropism and implications for vaccine design.

Dr. Pilar Pérez Romero
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • cytomegalovirus
  • CMV genome
  • T-cell immune response
  • neutralizing antibodies
  • vaccine design
  • cell tropism, virus-cell entry
  • animal model
  • CMV-specific immune response

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 1934 KiB  
Article
Fibroblast, Epithelial and Endothelial Cell-Derived Human Cytomegalovirus Strains Display Distinct Neutralizing Antibody Responses and Varying Levels of gH/gL Complexes
by Chiara Fornara, Eric Schultz, Daniele Lilleri, Fausto Baldanti, Brent Ryckman and Giuseppe Gerna
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(5), 4417; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24054417 - 23 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1547
Abstract
In sequential sera from pregnant women with HCMV primary infection (PI), the serum neutralizing activity is higher against virions produced in epithelial and endothelial cells than in fibroblasts. Immunoblotting shows that the pentamer complex/trimer complex (PC/TC) ratio varies according to the producer cell [...] Read more.
In sequential sera from pregnant women with HCMV primary infection (PI), the serum neutralizing activity is higher against virions produced in epithelial and endothelial cells than in fibroblasts. Immunoblotting shows that the pentamer complex/trimer complex (PC/TC) ratio varies according to the producer cell culture type used for the virus preparation to be employed in the neutralizing antibody (NAb) assay, and is lower in fibroblasts and higher in epithelial, and especially endothelial cells. The blocking activity of TC- and PC-specific inhibitors varies according to the PC/TC ratio of virus preparations. The rapid reversion of the virus phenotype following its back passage to the original cell culture (fibroblasts) potentially argues in favor of a producer cell effect on virus phenotype. However, the role of genetic factors cannot be overlooked. In addition to the producer cell type, the PC/TC ratio may differ in single HCMV strains. In conclusion, the NAb activity not only varies with different HCMV strains, but is a dynamic parameter changing according to virus strain, type of target and producer cells, and number of cell culture passages. These findings may have some important implications for the development of both therapeutic antibodies and subunit vaccines. Full article
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14 pages, 1288 KiB  
Article
Optimization of a Lambda-RED Recombination Method for Rapid Gene Deletion in Human Cytomegalovirus
by Estéfani García-Ríos, Julia Gata-de-Benito, Mireia López-Siles, Michael J. McConnell and Pilar Pérez-Romero
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(19), 10558; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms221910558 - 29 Sep 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3135
Abstract
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) continues to be a major cause of morbidity in transplant patients and newborns. However, the functions of many of the more than 282 genes encoded in the HCMV genome remain unknown. The development of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) technology contributes [...] Read more.
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) continues to be a major cause of morbidity in transplant patients and newborns. However, the functions of many of the more than 282 genes encoded in the HCMV genome remain unknown. The development of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) technology contributes to the genetic manipulation of several organisms including HCMV. The maintenance of the HCMV BAC in E. coli cells permits the rapid generation of recombinant viral genomes that can be used to produce viral progeny in cell cultures for the study of gene function. We optimized the Lambda-Red Recombination system to construct HCMV gene deletion mutants rapidly in the complete set of tested genes. This method constitutes a useful tool that allows for the quick generation of a high number of gene deletion mutants, allowing for the analysis of the whole genome to improve our understanding of HCMV gene function. This may also facilitate the development of novel vaccines and therapeutics. Full article
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