Abstract

Molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV) is a common human-specific poxvirus with a proclivity forinfecting children and the immune-compromised. A characteristic MCV infection is restricted tothe epidermal layers of the skin and can persist for weeks to years in an otherwise healthyindividual. The high clinical burden of MCV is at odds with our limited knowledge regarding howit successfully evades the human immune response, which is in part due to the lack of an animalmodel or cell line to propagate the virus. Through this dissertation, we have uncovered andcharacterized a novel mechanism by which MC80, a protein encoded by MCV, downregulateshost MHC-I surface expression in human and murine cell lines to evade T cell killing.Additionally, by sequencing clinically-derived MCV lesions, we have been able to assemblemultiple novel MCV genomes and identified that three key regions of the MCV genome, encodingimmune-evasive proteins, appear to be undergoing both homologous recombination and accordionexpansion.

Committee Chair

Daved H. Fremont

Committee Members

David Wang, Daniel E. Goldberg, Brian S. Kim, Marco Colonna,

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Author's Department

Biology & Biomedical Sciences (Immunology)

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

Summer 8-15-2020

Language

English (en)

Author's ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5444-8287

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