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Human Cytomegalovirus ANCHOR™

Characteristics

Human Cytomegalovirus belongs to the Herpes virus family. It is a large enveloped virus (150-200nm), with a double-stranded DNA genome of around 240 kilobases.

Pathogenicity

Prevalence of 55-100% within human population depending on the geographic area and socioeconomic conditions:

  • Primary infection usually silent or benign in healthy individuals
  • Leading infectious cause of congenital abnormalities in western world (1-2,5% of birth defects)
  • Severe to fatal disease in immunocompromised individuals, organ transplant recipients or AIDS patients.
  • Main antivirals: Ganciclovir, Letermovir.  Ganciclovir and Letermovir resistant strains availables.
MRC5 cells infected with hCMV ANCHOR™ (green), MOI 0,5, 72h PI. Apotome ZEISS, 63X.
ANCHOR tagged virus (green) combined to anti-actin immunofluorescence (red), nuclei in blue

Applications

Our hCMV, hCMV Ganciclovir resistant and hCMV Letermovir resistant are combined with the ANCHOR™ technology. This allows us to easily visualize viral infection and replication in high throughput and in living cells, making this virus an excellent tool to investigate the behavior of hCMV infection in presence of a molecule of interest. This virus is used in routine for the discovery or repurposing of new antiviral molecules but also to understand the fundamental aspect of hCMV infection in living cells.

Reference:  Mariamé et al., Journal of Virology, 2018

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