P. Dal Monte et al., Prokaryotic expression of human cytomegalovirus pUS22 and its reactivity with human antibody, ARCH VIROL, 143(12), 1998, pp. 2413-2419
This work demonstrates that antibodies to the product of the recombinant pU
S22 of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) are present in human sera during natura
l infection. US22 gene product has been identified as a member of the US22
family which may be secreted from infected cells. It is an early protein of
593 amino acids, 76 Kd in molecular weight. US22 seems to be an antigen wh
ich stimulates a good IgG response. In fact specific IgGs were found in app
roximately 40% of the CMV positive sera irrespective of their anti-CMV IgG
titer. Specific IgM antibodies to pUS22 were observed exclusively during pr
imary infection and in the sera with a high anti-CMV IgM titer. pUS22 could
be considered for inclusion in a cocktail of CMV recombinant proteins to d
etermine seropositivity to CMV and also to diagnose an active CMV infection
.