POTENTIAL ROLE OF HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS AND P53 INTERACTION IN CORONARY RESTENOSIS

A subset of patients who have undergone coronary angioplasty develop r estenosis, a vessel renarrowing characterized by excessive proliferati on of smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Of 60 human restenosis lesions exami ned, 23 (38 percent) were found to have accumulated high amounts of th e tumor suppressor protein p53, and this correlated with the presence of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in the lesions. SMCs grown from the le sions expressed HCMV protein IE84 and high amounts of p53. HCMV infect ion of cultured SMCs enhanced p53 accumulation, which correlated tempo rally with IE84 expression. IE84 also bound to p53 and abolished its a bility to transcriptionally activate a reporter gene. Thus, HCMV, and IE84-mediated inhibition of p53 function, may contribute to the develo pment of restenosis.