Viruses that lie low inside cells after infection come under attack by the immune system when they reawaken and resume multiplying. Hislop et al. (page 1863) now reveal the mechanism used by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) to dodge host immunity during this reactivation phase.
EBV initially infects and replicates within oral epithelial cells but later quietly hides out in B cells. During this latent phase, EBV-infected B cells avoid the immune system by expressing very little viral antigen. To ensure viral spread and survival, however, EBV must reenter the replicative, or lytic, phase and invade new epithelial tissues.
Previous studies suggested that this herpesvirus also avoids the attention of the immune system during its reawakening. During the lytic phase, EBV-infected B cells dial down the activity of their transporters associated with antigen processing (TAPs)—transmembrane channel proteins that shuttle antigenic peptides into the ER, where...
