The assembly of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is thought to be similar to that which has been proposed for alphaherpesviruses and involve envelopment of tegumented subviral particles at the nuclear membrane followed by export from the cell by a poorly defined pathway. However, several studies have shown that at least two tegument virion proteins remain in the cytoplasm during the HCMV replicative cycle, thereby suggesting that HCMV cannot acquire its final envelope at the nuclear envelope. We investigated the assembly of HCMV by determining the intracellular trafficking of the abundant tegument protein pp150 (UL32) in productively infected human fibroblasts. Our results indicated that pp150 remained within the cytoplasm throughout the replicative cycle of HCMV and accumulated in a stable, juxtanuclear structure late in infection. Image analysis using a variety of cell protein-specific antibodies indicated that the pp150-containing structure was not a component of the endoplasmic reticulum, (ER), ER-Golgi intermediate compartment, cis or medial Golgi, or lysosomes. Partial colocalization of the structure was noted with the trans -Golgi network, and it appeared to lie in close proximity to the microtubule organizing center. Two additional tegument proteins (pp28 and pp65) and three envelope glycoproteins (gB, gH, and gp65) localized in this same structure late infection. This compartment appeared to be relatively stable since pp150, pp65, and the processed form of gB could be coisolated following cell fractionation. Our findings indicated that pp150 was expressed exclusively within the cytoplasm throughout the infectious cycle of HCMV and that the accumulation of the pp150 in this cytoplasmic structure was accompanied by at least five other virion proteins. These results suggested the possibility that this virus-induced structure represented a cytoplasmic site of virus assembly.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is the most common viral infection acquired by the developing human fetus and can result in damage to the developing central nervous system. Although vaccine development to modify this congenital infection is ongoing, the unique epidemiology of maternal HCMV infections appears discordant with strategies for vaccine development. Several characteristics of congenital HCMV infections suggest that the efficacy of vaccines designed to induce responses similar to those that follow natural infection will be limited.

Introduction: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) establishes a persistent life-long infection, and can cause severe pathology in the fetus and the immunocompromised host[1]. Breast milk is the primary route of transmission in humans worldwide, and breast epithelium is thus a likely site of persistent infection and/or reactivation, though this phenomenon has not previously been demonstrated. Increasing evidence indicates HCMV infection can modulate signaling pathways associated with oncogenesis. We hypothesized that persistent HCMV infection occurs in normal adult breast epithelium and that persistent viral expression might be associated with normal and neoplastic ductal epithelium. Methods: Surgical biopsy specimens of normal breast (n = 38) breast carcinoma (n = 39) and paired normal breast from breast cancer patients (n = 21) were obtained. Specimens were evaluated by immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, PCR and DNA sequencing for evidence of HCMV antigens and nucleic acids. Results: We detected HCMV expression specifically in glandular epithelium in 17/27 (63%) of normal adult breast cases evaluated. In contrast, HCMV expression was evident in the neoplastic epithelium of 31/32 (97%) patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) cases evaluated (p = 0.0009). Conclusions: These findings are the first to demonstrate that persistent HCMV infection occurs in breast epithelium in a significant percentage of normal adult females. HCMV expression was also evident in neoplastic breast epithelium in a high percentage of normal and neoplastic breast tissues obtained from breast cancer patients, raising the possibility that viral infection may be involved in the neoplastic process.

Although the assembly of herpesviruses has remained an active area of investigation, considerable controversy continues to surround the cellular location of tegument and envelope acquisition. This controversy is particularly evident when the proposed pathways for α- and β-herpesvirus assembly are compared. We have approached this aspect of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) assembly, specifically, envelopment, by investigating the intracellular trafficking of viral tegument proteins which localize in the cytoplasms of infected cells. In this study we have demonstrated that the virion tegument protein pp28 (UL99), a true late protein, was membrane associated as a result of myristoylation. A mutation in this protein which prevented incorporation of [ ³ H]myristic acid also altered the detergent solubility and intracellular distribution of the protein when it was expressed in transfected cells. Using a panel of markers for intracellular compartments, we could localize the expression of wild-type pp28 to an intracellular compartment which colocalized with the endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi-intermediate compartment (ERGIC), a dynamic compartment of the secretory pathway which interfaces with both the ER and Golgi apparatus. The localization of this viral tegument protein within an early secretory compartment of the cell provided further evidence that the assembly of the HCMV tegument likely includes a cytoplasmic phase. Because pp28 has been shown to be localized to a cytoplasmic assembly compartment in HCMV-infected cells, our findings also suggested that viral tegument protein interactions within the secretory pathway may have an important role in the assembly of the virion.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous human pathogen that infects 40 to 90% of adult human populations. HCMV infections are often asymptomatic in healthy individuals but can cause severe organ and life-threatening disease in immunocompromised patients. The antiviral antibody response to HCMV infection is complex and is known to include virus-neutralizing antibody production against surface glycoproteins encoded by HCMV. We have investigated the human antibody response to a complex of HCMV surface glycoproteins composed of glycoprotein M (gM)/gN, the gene products of the UL100 and UL73 open reading frames. Mouse monoclonal antibodies generated against gM/gN have previously been shown to neutralize HCMV infection of human fibroblasts in vitro. To determine whether human antibodies reactive with the gM/gN complex possess virus-neutralizing properties, we isolated human antibodies reactive with gM/gN from pooled human HCMV hyperimmune globulin by affinity purification using recombinant gM/gN. The affinity-purified human anti-gM/gN antibodies reacted specifically by immunofluorescence with HCMV-infected human fibroblasts and with cells transiently expressing gM/gN, but not with cells transfected with plasmids encoding other immunogenic HCMV proteins. The anti-gM/gN antibodies also reacted specifically only with gM/gN in immunoblot assays using lysates of transfected cells expressing specific HCMV proteins. Last, human anti-gM/gN antibodies efficiently neutralized infectious HCMV in vitro with a capacity comparable to that of human anti-gB antibodies. These data indicated that gM/gN can elicit a virus-neutralizing antibody response in humans infected with HCMV and therefore should be considered a potential candidate for inclusion in prophylactic CMV vaccines.