Plasmacytoid dendritic cells respond to Epstein-Barr virus infection with a distinct type I interferon subtype profile.

ABSTRACT: Infectious mononucleosis, caused by infection with the human gamma-herpesvirus Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), manifests with one of the strongest CD8⁺ T-cell responses described in humans. The resulting T-cell memory response controls EBV infection asymptomatically in the vast majority of persistently infected individuals. Whether and how dendritic cells (DCs) contribute to the priming of this near-perfect immune control remains unclear. Here we show that of all the human DC subsets, plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) play a central role in the detection of EBV infection in vitro and in mice with reconstituted human immune system components. pDCs respond to EBV by producing the interferon (IFN) subtypes α1, α2, α5, α7, α14, and α17. However, the virus curtails this type I IFN production with it

SUBMITTER: Gujer C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6457222 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature