The impact of viral gene expression and cellular signalling upon the control of HCMV latency and reactivation

人类巨细胞病毒是一种疱疹病毒，在人类宿主体内终生共存。在健康成人中通常是良性的，在某些身体防御机制（免疫系统）对病原体关闭的患者中（即移植，癌症和艾滋病患者），病毒在全身不受控制地传播。这会导致严重的疾病，如果不加以控制，可能导致死亡。最终目标是了解病毒如何在人体内保持休眠状态，以及宿主的什么信号告诉病毒从休眠状态中唤醒（“重新激活”）。通过了解重新激活病毒的信号是什么，我们可以设计治疗方法来拦截该信号，并阻止它告诉病毒重新激活，直到患者的免疫系统恢复到足以重新控制病毒。此外，如果我们能够了解病毒在休眠阶段是如何劫持它所居住的细胞的，我们就有希望通过确定病毒生存所需的条件，设计出新的治疗方法，使我们能够了解病毒在宿主体内长期生存所需的条件。这种方法可能会杀死病毒并导致从人类中根除这种病原体。

Human Cytomegalovirus is a herpes virus that co-exists within the human host for life. Usually benign in healthy adults, in certain patients whose body defence mechanism (immune system) against pathogens is switched off (i.e. transplant, cancer and AIDS patients) the virus spreads uncontrollably throughout the body. This results in severe disease and, if not brought back under control, can lead to death. The ultimate aim is to understand how the virus remains dormant in humans and what host signals tell the virus to awaken (‘reactivate‘) from its‘ dormant state. By understanding what the signals are which reactivate the virus we can then design therapies to intercept that signal and prevent it from telling the virus to reactivate until the patients‘ immune system has recovered sufficiently to regain control over the virus. Furthermore, if we can understand how the virus hijacks the cells it resides in during its‘ dormant phase we can hopefully, by determining what the virus needs to survive, design novel therapies that could allow us to understand what the virus needs for long term survival in the host. Such an approach may kill the virus and result in the eradication of this pathogen from humans.