The Guinea Pig Model of Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection
Mark R. Schleiss and Juan C. Lacayo
from: Cytomegaloviruses: Molecular Biology and Immunology (Edited by: Matthias J. Reddehase). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2006)
Abstract
In the study of the cytomegaloviruses of small mammals, the guinea pig cytomegalovirus (GPCMV) has distinctive advantages. These uniquely useful attributes are chiefly related to the ability of GPCMV to cross the placenta, causing infection in utero. For this reason, the model is well-suited to the study of vaccines for prevention of congenital CMV infection, a major public health problem, and for the study of the role of viral genes in the pathogenesis of congenital infection. Progress in GPCMV studies has been hampered by a lack of detailed characterization of the viral genome, and a lack of immunologic reagents for animal study. However, recent efforts have been undertaken to characterize the GPCMV genome, and apply this information to in vivo vaccine and pathogenesis studies. As is the case for human cytomegalovirus, the GPCMV glycoprotein B (gB) has proven to be a major target of humoral immune responses, and purified recombinant forms of gB have recently been shown to be effective vaccines in the guinea pig model. The study of viral genes has been facilitated by the availability of the cloned GPCMV genome, maintained as a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) in E. coli, which has proven amenable to mutagenesis studies. This has enabled the detailed study of specific genes, including putative immunomodulatory genes, in pathogenesis and immunity. Insights from the ongoing characterization of the GPCMV should prove germane to the understanding of the correlates of protective immunity for the fetus, through vaccine studies in this model. The testing of vaccine strategies in this model and the study of viral determinants of pathogenesis could facilitate a better understanding of congenital HCMV disease read more ...
