Innate immune control of the oncogenic Epstein Barr virus by natural killer (NK) cells
Final Report Abstract
Primary infection with the human oncogenic Epstein Barr virus (EBV) can result in infectious mononucleosis (IM), a self-limiting disease caused by massive lymphocyte expansion, which predisposes for the development of distinct EBV-associated lymphomas. It remains unclear why some individuals experience this symptomatic primary EBV infection, while the majority acquires the virus asymptomatically. Using a mouse model with reconstituted human immune system components, we show here that depletion of human natural killer (NK) cells enhances IM symptoms and promotes EBV-associated tumorigenesis, mainly due to loss of immune control over lytic EBV infection. These data suggest that failure of innate immune control by human NK cells augments symptomatic lytic EBV infection, which drives lymphocyte expansion and predisposes for EBV-associated malignancies.
Publications
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Human Natural Killer Cells Prevent Infectious Mononucleosis Features by Targeting Lytic Epstein-Barr Virus Infection. 2013 Cell Rep 5:1489-1498
Chijioke, Obinna; Müller, Anne; Feederle, Regina; Barros, Mario Henrique M.; Krieg, Carsten; Emmel, Vanessa; Marcenaro, Emanuela; Leung, Carol S.; Antsiferova, Olga; Landtwing, Vanessa; Bossart, Walter; Moretta, Alessandro; Hassan, Rocio; Boyman, Onur; Niedobitek, Gerald; Delecluse, Henri-Jacques; Capaul, Riccarda & Münz, Christian
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Innate immune responses against Epstein Barr virus infection. 2013. J Leukoc Biol 94:1185-1190
Chijioke, O., Azzi, T., Nadal, D., and Münz, C.
