A fibroblast cell infected by the human cytomegalovirus (green) that arises from reactivation of dormant virus in monocyte immune cells (small grey cells). Image credit: Miri Shnayder (CC BY 4.0)
Most people around the world unknowingly carry the human cytomegalovirus, as this virus can become dormant after infection and hide in small numbers of blood stem cells (which give rise to blood and immune cells). Dormant viruses still make their host cells read their genetic information and create viral proteins – a process known as gene expression – but they do not use them to quickly multiply. However, it is possible for the cytomegalovirus to reawaken at a later stage and start replicating again, which can be fatal for people with weakened immune systems. It is therefore important to understand exactly how the virus can stay dormant, and how it reactivates.
Only certain infected cells allow dormant viruses to later reactivate; in others, it never starts to multiply again. Techniques that can monitor individual cells are therefore needed to understand how the host cells and the viruses interact during dormant infection and reactivation.
To investigate this, Shnayder et al. infected blood stem cells in the laboratory and used a method known as single-cell RNA analysis, which highlights all the genes (including viral genes) that are expressed in a cell. This showed that in certain cells, the virus dampens the cell defenses, leading to a higher rate of viral gene expression and, in turn, easier reactivation.
Further experiments showed that the blood stem cells that expressed the viral genes were marked to become a type of immune cells known as monocytes. In turn, these infected monocytes were shown to be less able to defend the body against infection, suggesting that latent human cytomegalovirus suppresses the body’s innate immune response.
The reactivation of human cytomegalovirus is a dangerous issue for patients who have just received an organ or blood stem cells transplant. The study by Shnayder et al. indicates that treatments that boost innate immunity may help to prevent the virus from reawakening, but more work is needed to test this theory.
