Suppression of costimulation by human cytomegalovirus promotes evasion of cellular immune defenses.

CD58 is an adhesion molecule that is known to play a critical role in costimulation of effector cells and is intrinsic to immune synapse structure. Herein, we describe a virally encoded gene that inhibits CD58 surface expression. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) UL148 was necessary and sufficient to promote intracellular retention of CD58 during HCMV infection. Blocking studies with antagonistic anti-CD58 mAb and an HCMV UL148 deletion mutant (HCMV∆UL148) with restored CD58 expression demonstrated that the CD2/CD58 axis was essential for the recognition of HCMV-infected targets by CD8+ HCMV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Further, challenge of peripheral blood mononuclear cells ex vivo with HCMV∆UL148 increased both CTL and natural killer (NK) cell degranulation against HCMV-infected cells, including NK-driven antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, showing that UL148 is a modulator of the function of multiple effector cell subsets. Our data stress the effect of HCMV immune evasion functions on shaping the immune response, highlighting the capacity for their potential use in modulating immunity during the development of anti-HCMV vaccines and HCMV-based vaccine vectors.

The pentameric complex drives immunologically covert cell-cell transmission of wild-type human cytomegalovirus.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) strains that have been passaged in vitro rapidly acquire mutations that impact viral growth. These laboratory-adapted strains of HCMV generally exhibit restricted tropism, produce high levels of cell-free virus, and develop susceptibility to natural killer cells. To permit experimentation with a virus that retained a clinically relevant phenotype, we reconstructed a wild-type (WT) HCMV genome using bacterial artificial chromosome technology. Like clinical virus, this genome proved to be unstable in cell culture; however, propagation of intact virus was achieved by placing the RL13 and UL128 genes under conditional expression. In this study, we show that WT-HCMV produces extremely low titers of cell-free virus but can efficiently infect fibroblasts, epithelial, monocyte-derived dendritic, and Langerhans cells via direct cell-cell transmission. This process of cell-cell transfer required the UL128 locus, but not the RL13 gene, and was significantly less vulnerable to the disruptive effects of IFN, cellular restriction factors, and neutralizing antibodies compared with cell-free entry. Resistance to neutralizing antibodies was dependent on high-level expression of the pentameric gH/gL/gpUL128-131A complex, a feature of WT but not passaged strains of HCMV.

Genetic Stability of Bacterial Artificial Chromosome-Derived Human Cytomegalovirus during Culture In Vitro.

UNLABELLED: Clinical human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) strains invariably mutate when propagatedin vitro Mutations in gene RL13 are selected in all cell types, whereas in fibroblasts mutants in the UL128 locus (UL128L; genes UL128, UL130, and UL131A) are also selected. In addition, sporadic mutations are selected elsewhere in the genome in all cell types. We sought to investigate conditions under which HCMV can be propagated without incurring genetic defects. Bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) provide a stable, genetically defined source of viral genome. Viruses were generated from BACs containing the genomes of strains TR, TB40, FIX, and Merlin, as well as from Merlin-BAC recombinants containing variant nucleotides in UL128L from TB40-BAC4 or FIX-BAC. Propagation of viruses derived from TR-BAC, TB40-BAC4, and FIX-BAC in either fibroblast or epithelial cells was associated with the generation of defects around the prokaryotic vector, which is retained in the unique short (US) region of viruses. This was not observed for Merlin-BAC, from which the vector is excised in derived viruses; however, propagation in epithelial cells was consistently associated with mutations in the unique longb' (UL/b') region, all impacting on gene UL141. Viruses derived from Merlin-BAC in fibroblasts had mutations in UL128L, but mutations occurred less frequently with recombinants containing UL128L nucleotides from TB40-BAC4 or FIX-BAC. Viruses derived from a Merlin-BAC derivative in which RL13 and UL128L were either mutated or repressed were remarkably stable in fibroblasts. Thus, HCMV containing a wild-type gene complement can be generatedin vitroby deriving virus from a self-excising BAC in fibroblasts and repressing RL13 and UL128L. IMPORTANCE: Researchers should aim to study viruses that accurately represent the causative agents of disease. This is problematic for HCMV because clinical strains mutate rapidly when propagatedin vitro, becoming less cell associated, altered in tropism, more susceptible to natural killer cells, and less pathogenic. Following isolation from clinical material, HCMV genomes can be stabilized by cloning into bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs), and then virus is regenerated by DNA transfection. However, mutations can occur not only during isolation prior to BAC cloning but also when virus is regenerated. We have identified conditions under which BAC-derived viruses containing an intact, wild-type genome can be propagatedin vitrowith minimal risk of mutants being selected, enabling studies of viruses expressing the gene complement of a clinical strain. However, even under these optimized conditions, sporadic mutations can occur, highlighting the advisability of sequencing the HCMV stocks used in experiments.

Impact of sequence variation in the UL128 locus on production of human cytomegalovirus in fibroblast and epithelial cells.

The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) virion envelope contains a complex consisting of glycoproteins gH and gL plus proteins encoded by the UL128 locus (UL128L): pUL128, pUL130, and pUL131A. UL128L is necessary for efficient infection of myeloid, epithelial, and endothelial cells but limits replication in fibroblasts. Consequently, disrupting mutations in UL128L are rapidly selected when clinical isolates are cultured in fibroblasts. In contrast, bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)-cloned strains TB40-BAC4, FIX, and TR do not contain overt disruptions in UL128L, yet no virus reconstituted from them has been reported to acquire mutations in UL128L in vitro. We performed BAC mutagenesis and reconstitution experiments to test the hypothesis that these strains contain subtle mutations in UL128L that were acquired during passage prior to BAC cloning. Compared to strain Merlin containing wild-type UL128L, all three strains produced higher yields of cell-free virus. Moreover, TB40-BAC4 and FIX spread cell to cell more rapidly than wild-type Merlin in fibroblasts but more slowly in epithelial cells. The differential growth properties of TB40-BAC4 and FIX (but not TR) were mapped to single-nucleotide substitutions in UL128L. The substitution in TB40-BAC4 reduced the splicing efficiency of UL128, and that in FIX resulted in an amino acid substitution in UL130. Introduction of these substitutions into Merlin dramatically increased yields of cell-free virus and increased cell-to-cell spread in fibroblasts but reduced the abundance of pUL128 in the virion and the efficiency of epithelial cell infection. These substitutions appear to represent mutations in UL128L that permit virus to be propagated in fibroblasts while retaining epithelial cell tropism.