Technologies

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous herpesvirus infecting more than 75% of the U.S population. It is a leading cause of birth defects in newborns, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised individuals, such as transplant recipients and patients with AIDS, and even in healthy adults, this virus causes a life-long subclinical infection that may be associated with the development of atherosclerosis. Study of murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) serves as a model for understanding of HCMV- associated diseases.
The reagents covered in this invention include (1) MCMV mutant (RvM78) that contained a mutation at viral open reading frame M78, (2) an expression plasmid construct (pM78-FLAG) that contains M78 coding sequence driven by an eukaryotic expression cassette, and (3) a mouse 3T3 cell line that contains pM78-Flag and expresses M78 protein.

References:
Zhan et al. 2000 Virology 266:264-74.
Zhan et al. 2000 J. Virology 74:7411-21