Cytomegalovirus expresses the chemokine homologue vXCL1 capable of attracting XCR1+ CD4- dendritic cells.

ABSTRACT: Cytomegaloviruses (CMV) have developed various strategies to escape the immune system of the host. One strategy involves the expression of virus-encoded chemokines to modulate the host chemokine network. We have identified in the English isolate of rat CMV (murid herpesvirus 8 [MuHV8]) an open reading frame encoding a protein homologous to the chemokine XCL1, the only known C chemokine. Viral XCL1 (vXCL1), a glycosylated protein of 96 amino acids, can be detected 13 h postinfection in the supernatant of MuHV8-infected rat embryo fibroblasts. vXCL1 exclusively binds to CD4(-) rat dendritic cells (DC), a subset of DC that express the corresponding chemokine receptor XCR1. Like endogenous rat XCL1, vXCL1 selectively chemoattracts XCR1(+) CD4(-) DC. Since XCR1(+) DC in mice and humans have bee

SUBMITTER: Geyer H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3911744 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature