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Virus Research 157 (2011) 127
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Virus Research
journa l homepage: www.e lsev ier .com/ locate /v i rusres
reface
The co-speciation of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) with itsuman host has enabled this human pathogen to evolve multipleechanisms to allow it to be carried, generally sub-clinically, for
he lifetime of the host in the face of a robust immune response. Thisife-long carriage is maintained by low-level persistence as wells by latent infection and involves host/virus interactions whichre necessarily diverse and complex. These interactions ensureonditions whereby virus is able to maximise viral carriage andissemination whilst avoiding immunesurveillance. It must be saidhat, in the case of HCMV, this generally results in an innocuous bal-nce between the host and the virus unless the balance is upset by,or instance, disruption of host immunity.
The virus/host interactions which result in efficient infection,ersistence and dissemination have been the subject of intense
nvestigation and this special issue of Virus Research aims to bringogether experts in the field who have made fundamental contri-utions to our understanding of these complex interactions.
The chapter by Stamminger describes intrinsic cellular repres-ion mechanisms employed at the earliest times to try to limit virusnfection and how HCMV overcomes them. Reeves’ chapter also dis-usses how intrinsic repression of viral genome can, in certain cellypes, result in restriction of the lytic infection program and a latentnfection.
Productive infection, however, results in multiple effects on theell which are often interpreted by the cell as pro-death signals or
hich make it a target for the host immune response. The chaptersy Brune, Wills and Reddehase describe how the virus employsumerous strategies to prevent untimely cell death, how the infec-ion results in robust innate and adaptive immune responses andow the virus is able to evade these responses, respectively. The
168-1702/$ – see front matter © 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.oi:10.1016/j.virusres.2010.11.002
possibility that such robust immune responses to HCMV may haveprofound effects on host immunity to other pathogens is discussedby Pawlec.
The remaining chapters describe novel aspects of HCMV biol-ogy which we believe will be paramount to our understandingof virus/host interactions: Pellet describes the role of microR-NAs during virus infection, a mechanism which likely orchestratesthe fine tuning of both viral and cellular gene expression; whilstSorenceau and Streblow discuss the possibility that, in certain cir-cumstances, the intimate involvement of HCMV with the host cellcan result in profound effects on tumourogenesis and angiogene-sis.
Finally, Pritchard describes novel anti-virals which are showingpromise in the clinic.
We thank Dr. Luis Enjuanes, Editor of Virus Research, for invitingus to edit this special issue. Our thanks also go to all the authors,who despite their busy schedules, have taken time to prepare suchexcellent manuscripts.
Mark Wills ∗
John SinclairUniversity of Cambridge, Department of Medicine,
Addenbrookes Hospital, Hills Rd, Cambridge, CB20QQ, United Kingdom
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1223 336862;
fax: +44 1223 336846.E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Wills),[email protected] (J. Sinclair)
Available online 13 November 2010
