HUMAN GENES REGULATED BY HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS AND INTERFERON

摘要

This invention describes 23 genes related to HCMV infection. We demonstrate that 19 out of the 23 genes are induced by HCMV infection and that 6 of these genes were previously unidentified in public sequence data bases. We also show for the first time that 7 out of the 19 genes are also interferon-inducible. We demonstrate that 4 out of the 23 genes are repressed by HCMV infection. Two of these are known genes and the cDNA sequence that we have determined for the other two are not present in public data bases. The invention relates to using these genes as markers in assays screening for compounds that reverse the expression pattern of said genes following challenge with either cytomegalovirus or interferon. The invention further relates to anti-viral pharmaceutical compositions encompassing recombinant proteins, antibodies, antisense technology and gene therapy.