THE ROLE OF ANTI-CYTOMEGALOVIRUS CD8 TCELL RESPONSES IN ADIPOSE METABOLIC DYSREGULATION AND DIABETES

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Abstract Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection results in a lifelong and persistent infection that is characterized by stochastic bouts of replication. Furthermore, the primary and definitive location of viral replicative senescence has yet to be identified. As CMV has a broad tissue and cellular tropism the identification of a ‘viral reservoir’ has been difficult. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential involvement of adipose tissue in acute and chronic immune responses during CMV infection. Adipose tissue is a highly heterogeneous tissue containing the adipocytes and stromal vascular fraction (SVF). The SVF consists of numerous immune cells and specifically CD8a T cells, which are crucially important for the control of CMV infection. Inflammation within adipose tissue has been increasingly investigated in the context of obesity, but whether CMV infection adipose tissue and the downstream consequences of such an infection have not been reported. Here we demonstrate, using the mouse model of CMV infection (mCMV) that mCMV is capable of infecting the cellular constituents of adipose tissue and this results in a significant CD8a+ T cell response that is maintained in both the acute and lifelong infection, possibly leading to a decline in metabolic function. These results have far reaching implications for metabolic health, increase our knowledge of mCMV tropism, an

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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