Herpesviruses and immunity: The art of evasion

Author(s):
Griffin, B.D.; Verweij, M.C.; Wiertz, E.J.H.J.
Published
2010
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor

Abstract

Herpesviruses have evolved several effective strategies to counter the host immune response. Chief among these is inhibition of the host MHC class I antigen processing and presentation pathway, thereby reducing the presentation of virus-derived epitopes on the surface of the infected cell. This review summarizes the mechanisms used by herpesviruses to achieve this goal, including shut-down of MHC class I molecule synthesis, blockage of proteasome-mediated peptide generation and prevention of TAP-mediated peptide transport. Furthermore, herpesvirus proteins can retain MHC class I molecules in the endoplasmic reticulum, or direct their retrograde translocation from the endoplasmic reticulum or endocytosis from the plasma membrane, with subsequent degradation. The resulting down-regulation of cell surface MHC class! peptide complexes thwarts the ability of cytotoxic T lymphocytes to recognize and eliminate virus-infected cells. The subversion of the natural killer cell response by herpesvirus proteins and microRNAs is also discussed. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Herpesvirus MHC class I molecule Antigen presentation Immune evasion mhc class-i major histocompatibility complex epstein-barr-virus sarcoma-associated herpesvirus human cytomegalovirus us3 peptide-loading complex reticulum-associated degradation protein-coupled receptor varicella-zoster-virus host shutoff function
Date issued
2010-06-16
Language
English
Is part of
Veterinary Microbiology (2010), Vol. 143, no. 1, p. 89-100
hdl
1887/111483
doi
10.1016/j.vetmic.2010.02.017