Cytomegalovirus-infected antigen-presenting cell

A cytomegalovirus-infected antigen-presenting cell is a professional antigen-presenting cell (such as a dendritic cell, macrophage, or occasionally an adaptive NK cell), which has been infected by CMV and is processing and presenting viral antigens on its cell surface via MHC molecules to T lymphocytes. This process is central for priming and activating the adaptive CD8+ T cell response to CMV infection, and is subject to elaborate immune evasion by the virus, which encodes proteins that can modulate or inhibit MHC class I antigen presentation. In the context of antiviral immunity and transplantation, both direct presentation by infected APCs and cross-presentation by uninfected APCs play roles, but neither designates a unique molecular therapeutic target.

Other names

Antigen-presenting cell infected with cytomegalovirusCMV-infected APCCMV-infected professional antigen-presenting cell