Epstein-Barr Virus Entry

Abstract

One of the many conundrums of herpesvirology is why a herpesvirus is so profligate in its use of four or more envelope glycoproteins for entry into a cell when other viruses can man- age very well with only one or two. Profligacy does, however, have its advantages. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), originally rec- ognized for its ability to infect and transform lymphocytes, is now clearly understood to infect epithelial cells as part of its normal cycle of persistence in a human host, and under some circumstances, the virus may infect T cells, natural killer cells, smooth muscle cells (47), and possibly monocytes as well (11, 50). Our understanding of how EBV enters each of these cell types is very incomplete, but some of the major players in- volved in B-cell and epithelial cell infections are being identi- fied, and they provide a window into the flexibility of tropism that the use of different combinations of virus and cell mem- brane proteins can provide. This review summarizes what we know about these players so far. ATTACHMENT