Persistent Infections

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Congenital, Genital and Transplant-Acquired Infections – Genomics of Human CytomegalovirusDr Andrew Davison, Lead Investigator, in collaboration with Prof Sheila Graham and Prof Ruth Jarrett, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR), University of Glasgow.Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) can be a serious issue for people whose immune systems are immature or not working properly. It is a major cause of foetal infections, a leading cause of illness in transplant recipients, and a problem for AIDS patients.HCMV has a large genome, but new methods make it possible for us to understand the role that differences among viral strains play in infection. To make this practical, we have created a rapid way of sequencing complete HCMV genomes directly from clinical samples. We plan to relate viral variation to the outcome of infection in various groups, particularly transplant recipients. This willinvolve analysing viral genome sequences in over 1000 infected patients.In other projects, we will use modern approaches to study the functions of unusual HCMV RNAs and work out whether this might provide new ideas for drugs to treat infections.Finally, we will apply our techniques to a relative of HCMV called human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6). This will help us understand whether the 1% of humans who have an HHV6 genome integrated into all their cells, and are capable of passing it to their children, are at risk of particular diseases.