Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) causes lifelong, persistent infections and its survival is
under intense, continuous selective pressure from the immune system. A key aspect of
HCMV's capacity for survival lies in immune avoidance. In this context, cells undergoing
productive infection exhibit remarkable resistance to natural killer (NK) cell-mediated
cytolysis in vitro. To date, six genes encoding proteins (UL16, UL18, UL40, UL83, UL141
and UL142) and one encoding a microRNA (miR-UL112) have been identified as capable of …