FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE C-C CHEMOKINE-LIKE MOLECULES ENCODED BY MOLLUSCUM CONTAGIOSUM VIRUS TYPES 1 AND 2

摘要

The inventors have cloned and expressed the chemokine-like genes from MCV type 1 and the closely related MCV type 2 in order to determine a potential role for these proteins in the viral life cycle. These are the first viral chemokines that have been shown to antagonize the chemotactic activity of human chemokines and the first viral chemokines that have been shown to have inhibitory activity on human hematopoietic progenitor cells. Methods and compositions for exploiting these proteins are disclosed herein.