Cytomegalovirus (CMV), a member of the beta herpesvirus subfamily, typically causes subclinical or latent infections in the normal adult population. However, CMV can cause congenital disease during pregnancy and is a human opportunistic pathogen that affects immunocompromised individuals. The CMV genome has been shown to contain homologs of cellular immunomodulatory proteins, including US28 (a CC chemokine receptor) and a MHC class I homolog. Virulent CMV clinical isolates have also been shown to carry at least 19 genes, designated UL133-UL151, that are not found in laboratory strains that have lost virulence characteristics. Two of these genes, UL146 and UL147, exhibit sequence similarity to CXC chemokines.
The CMV UL146 open-reading frame encodes a 117 amino acid residue precursor protein with a predicted 22 residues signal peptide that is cleaved to generate the mature protein. Recombinant UL146 has been shown to induce calcium mobilization, chemotaxis and degranulation of neutrophils.
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