Role for Protein Deamidation in Viral Immune Evasion

USC researchers have discovered that herpes viruses evade immune clearance by modifying the cytosolic receptor RIG-I with a viral deamidase. The deamidation-resistant RIG-I maintains the ability to induce immune responses in presence of the herpes virus and stops viral replication. The team has also created a non-replicating mutant virus as a potential vaccine strain. This mutant virus cannot deamidate RIG-I and therefore induces strong immune responses in the host. Donaldson Santos dgsantos@usc.edu (213) 821-0946