Cytomegalovirus glycoprotein types and disease causation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Cytomegalovirus glycoprotein types and disease causation
IRAS ID
156144
Contact name
Zahrah Buhamad
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 7 months, 30 days
Research summary
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a herpes virus that only infects humans rarely causing disease in healthy people unless the immune system is damaged or absent when it may cause severe disease or death. It infects around 1% of unborn babies in developed countries; most are born healthy but approximately 15% have symptoms ranging from deafness to mental retardation to death. To grow, the virus must get inside a human cell and its surface structures called glycoproteins help it do this. These glycoproteins are crucial in the interaction between virus and cell but are known to undergo frequent genetic change or mutation producing sub-types of each glycoprotein. Previous work showed that babies born with active HCMV disease are often infected with the same mutated sub-type of viral glycoprotein suggesting that some types are more dangerous than others and providing a possible explanation for the wide range of different outcomes in infected babies.
Data suggests that occurrence of specific mutations in the glycoproteins is driven by the patient’s immune response. The aim of this project is to establish a robust molecular system for detecting and quantifying the glycoprotein types of individual viruses taken from infected patients and compare these with the effect each different virus type has on the immune system. Cytokines are proteins secreted by cells as a first line of immune defence against foreign bodies so effect on cytokine production and response will be used as a measure of immunity. These data will demonstrate how glycoprotein changes affect the immune response and potentially influence severity of the disease in different patient populations. This study is important because if a clear link is found between the glycoprotein type and severity of disease more specific tests to identify at-risk babies can be developed allowing early and targeted anti-viral treatment.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/YH/0240
Date of REC Opinion
15 May 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion