INTERACTION OF HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS WITH P53 - POSSIBLE ROLE IN CORONARY RESTENOSIS

Restenosis occurs in 25-50% of patients, Within 1-6 months after coron ary angioplasty, excessive injury-induced smooth muscle cell (SMC) pro liferation contributes to the development of restenosis; its causes re main unknown, The results of this study implicate human cytomegaloviru s (HCMV) and HCMV-induced abnormalities in p53 function in the resteno sis process. Almost 40% of restenosis lesions, obtained by atherectomy , demonstrated increased SMC p53 levels by p53 immunopositivity; seque ncing revealed the p53 to be the wild type, A strong correlation was f ound between p53 immunopositivity and the presence of HCMV DNA, Moreov er, the HCMV IE84 protein co-immunoprecipitates with p53, and p53 tran scriptional capacity is reduced by IE84, Thus, HCMV may play a causal role in restenosis, which may be at least partly mediated by inhibitin g p53 suppressor effects.