Human cytomegalovirus entry into epithelial and endothelial cells depends on genes UL128 to UL150 and occurs by endocytosis and low-pH fusion.

ABSTRACT: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) replication in epithelial and endothelial cells appears to be important in virus spread, disease, and persistence. It has been difficult to study infection of these cell types because HCMV laboratory strains (e.g., AD169 and Towne) have lost their ability to infect cultured epithelial and endothelial cells during extensive propagation in fibroblasts. Clinical strains of HCMV (e.g., TR and FIX) possess a cluster of genes (UL128 to UL150) that are largely mutated in laboratory strains, and recent studies have indicated that these genes facilitate replication in epithelial and endothelial cells. The mechanisms by which these genes promote infection of these two cell types are unclear. We derived an HCMV UL128-to-UL150 deletion mutant from strain TR, TRdelta4, and

SUBMITTER: Ryckman BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1346879 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature