Immediate early protein IE1 (IE1)

The Immediate early protein IE1 (IE1) is a crucial phosphoprotein encoded by the Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and plays a central role in the viral life cycle. It functions as a promiscuous transcriptional activator, transactivating viral early genes and its own promoter, and is essential for the establishment of lytic infection and reactivation from latency. IE1 employs various strategies to subvert host defenses, including disrupting PML-associated nuclear bodies (ND10) by interfering with host PML and SP100 sumoylation, and promoting the degradation of host SP100 to enhance viral growth. Furthermore, it counteracts the host innate antiviral response by inhibiting both type I and type II interferon pathways through interactions with STAT2 and repression of IL6- and STAT3 target genes. IE1 also influences host cell cycle progression, histone deacetylation, and p53 activity, and may act as an E3 ubiquitin ligase to degrade host proteins. Its multifaceted roles in immune evasion and viral replication make it a significant therapeutic target for HCMV infections. Compounds like StA-IE1-2 and StA-IE1-3 have been identified to specifically inhibit IE1's function by releasing the IE1-imposed interferon response block.

Other names

55 kDa immediate-early protein 1IE1p72IE72UL123 regulatory protein IE172-kDa immediate early 1 protein

Releasing the IE1-imposed interferon response block.