Monocyte-derived inhibitor of interleukin 1 induced by human cytomegalovirus

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Abstract
It was previously shown that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) can exert immunosuppressive effects, and it was suggested that these may be mediated by monocytes, although the mechanism is unclear. It is shown here that infection of human monocytes with the AD169 strain of HCMV abrogates their production of interleukin 1 (IL-1) activity. This was associated with the release from infected monocytes of an inhibitor of IL-1 activity which was also released after HCMV infection of the U937 macrophage-like cell line. The inhibitor of IL-1 activity is a protein with an apparent MW of .apprx. 95,000. This action of HCMV strain AD169 was virus specific and required infectious virus but occurred without virus replication or detectable expression of viral proteins. This effect may account, at least in part, for the previously observed immunosuppressive properties of HCMV.