Editorial: Cytomegalovirus Pathogenesis and Host Interactions

Abstract

Editorial on the Research Topic Cytomegalovirus Pathogenesis and Host Interactions SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH TOPICHuman cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a very widespread and highly prevalent b-herpesvirus, which sometimes causes mononucleosis following primary infection but is rarely associated with severe disease in immunocompetent individuals (Boeckh and Geballe, 2011;Griffiths et al., 2015). However, like all herpesviruses, HCMV establishes infections that last for the life of the host in part by residing in a dormant state referred to as 'latency ' (Sinclair and Poole, 2014;Dupont and Reeves, 2016). Reactivation from latency or primary infection can cause debilitating damage in unborn children or life-threatening disease in immunosuppressed patients including recipients of solid organ or hematopoietic cell transplants (Collins-McMillen et al., 2018;Heald-Sargent et al., 2020). Besides human cell culture systems of HCMV productive and latent infection (Peppenelli et al., 2021;Poole et al., 2021), mice infected with murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) have served as invaluable models to understand host immune responses, viral immune evasion strategies and the mechanisms of pathogenesis (Brizic et al., 2018;Reddehase and Lemmermann, 2018). HCMV replicates productively in a wide variety of terminally differentiated cell types ('lytic' infection) while targeting select undifferentiated cells, including myeloid progenitors and monocytes, for latent infection (Sinclair and Poole, 2014;Goodrum, 2016). CMVs are highly sophisticated pathogens encoding hundreds of proteins and non-coding RNAs that engage in a myriad of host interactions (Stern-Ginossar et al., 2012;Weekes et al., 2014). The study of these interactions is constantly revealing new and surprising insights into both the replication and persistence strategies of the virus as well as the biology of the host cell and organism.The recently published Research Topic 'Cytomegalovirus Pathogenesis and Host Interactions' combines 28 articles (8 Original Research Articles, 10 Brief Research Reports, 8 Reviews, 1 Mini Review and this Editorial), involving 138 authors, 45 reviewers and 5 editors working in the field. Below, we are providing an overview of the articles published in this Research Topic, dividing them into the four sections 'innate and adaptive immune control of CMV pathogenesis' (11 articles), 'host interactions during CMV latency and reactivation' (6 articles), 'host interactions during productive CMV infection' (6 articles) and 'targeting CMV pathogenesis by anti-viral therapy' (4 articles).