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Dissecting Innate Immune Signaling in Viral Evasion of Cytokine Production
Published on: March 2, 2014
Vaccinia virus A35R inhibits MHC class II antigen presentation
Kristina E Rehm1, Ramsey F Connor, Gwendolyn J B Jones
1Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Greenville, NC, USA.
None:
The Vaccinia virus gene A35R (Copenhagen designation) is highly conserved in mammalian-tropic poxviruses and is an important virulence factor, but its function was unknown. We show herein that A35 does not affect viral infectivity, apoptosis induction, or replication; however, we found that A35 significantly inhibited MHC class II-restricted antigen presentation, immune priming of T lymphocytes, and subsequent chemokine and cytokine synthesis. A35 localized to endosomes and reduced the amount of a model antigenic peptide displayed in the cleft of class II MHC. In addition, A35 decreased VV specific T cell responses in vivo. Thus, this is the first report identifying a function for the A35 protein in virulence as well as the first report identifying a VV gene that inhibits peptide antigen presentation.
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