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The role of MCMV m157 gene product in NK cell-mediated control of MCMV infection in vivo

Based on their susceptibility to MCMV infection, conventional mouse strains could be divided into two groups: MCMV susceptible strains (e.g. BALB/c mice), and MCMV resistant strains (e.g. C57BL/6 mice). The resistance strongly correlates with the ability of mouse strains to mount an effective NK cell response, which is controlled by the Ly49H locus on mouse chromosome 6. Recently, it has been shown that MCMV m157 gene encodes the ligand for Ly49H NK cell receptor, and that the same product can also serve as a ligand for an inhibitory NK cell receptor, possibly Ly49 I (Smith H.R. et al., PNAS 99(13): 8826-31, Arase H. et al., Science 296(5571): 1323-6). Here we confirm the role of MCMV m157 gene in vivo as well. The m157 deletion mutant reached a much higher titer when compared to m157 revertant virus strain in C57BL/6 mice. Depletion of NK cells showed no effect on virus titer in spleen of mice infected with m157 deletion mutant virus, whereas at the same time, revertant and w.t. virus strains showed equal susceptibility to NK cells. It can be concluded that the product of MCMV m157 gene is playing a crucial role in NK cell-mediated control in LY49H positive mice.

MCMV; m157; NK cells; Ly49H

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