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Journal of Virology, December 2004, p. 13062-13071, Vol. 78, No. 23
0022-538X/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.78.23.13062-13071.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of a Mouse Cytomegalovirus Gene Selectively Targeting CD86 Expression on Antigen-Presenting Cells

Virus-Cell Interaction Group, ZAMED Medical Faculty, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale),¹ Institute of Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, Christian Albrecht University Kiel, Kiel, Germany,³ Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts²

Received 16 March 2004/ Accepted 22 July 2004

We and others have shown that infection of dendritic cells with murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) leads to severe functional impairment of these antigen-presenting cells (D. M. Andrews, C. E. Andoniou, F. Granucci, P. Ricciardi-Castagnoli, and M. A. Degli-Esposti, Nat. Immunol. 2:1077-1084, 2001; S. Mathys, T. Schroeder, J. Ellwart, U. H. Koszinowski, M. Messerle, and U. Just, J. Infect. Dis. 187:988-999, 2003). Phenotypically, reduced surface expression of costimulatory molecules and major histocompatibility complex molecules was detected. In order to identify the molecular basis for the observed effects, we generated MCMV mutants with large deletions of nonessential genes. The study was facilitated by the finding that a monocyte-macrophage cell line displayed similar phenotypic alterations after MCMV infection. By analyzing the expression of cell surface molecules on infected cells, we identified a mutant virus which is no longer able to downmodulate the expression of the costimulatory molecule CD86. Additional mutants with smaller deletions allowed us to pin down the responsible gene to a certain genomic region. RNA analysis led to the identification of the spliced gene m147.5, encoding a protein with 145 amino acids. Experiments with an m147.5 mutant revealed that the protein affects CD86 expression only, suggesting that additional MCMV genes are responsible for downmodulation of the other surface molecules. Identification of viral gene products interfering with functionally important proteins of antigen-presenting cells will provide the basis to dissect the complex interaction of CMV with these important cells and to evaluate the biological importance of these viral genes in vivo.

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