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Updated: Oct 17, 2026

Dissecting Innate Immune Signaling in Viral Evasion of Cytokine Production
Published on: March 2, 2014
Human cytomegalovirus harbors its own unique IL-10 homolog (cmvIL-10)
S V Kotenko1, S Saccani, L S Izotova
1Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854-5635, USA. kotenkse@umdnj.edu
Abstract:
We identified a viral IL-10 homolog encoded by an ORF (UL111a) within the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) genome, which we designated cmvIL-10. cmvIL-10 can bind to the human IL-10 receptor and can compete with human IL-10 for binding sites, despite the fact that these two proteins are only 27% identical. cmvIL-10 requires both subunits of the IL-10 receptor complex to induce signal transduction events and biological activities. The structure of the cmvIL-10 gene is unique by itself. The gene retained two of four introns of the IL-10 gene, but the length of the introns was reduced. We demonstrated that cmvIL-10 is expressed in CMV-infected cells. Thus, expression of cmvIL-10 extends the range of counter measures developed by CMV to circumvent detection and destruction by the host immune system.
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