[Modulation of host immune defenses by cytomegalovirus: advanced insights from evolutionary game theory].
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an ubiquitous pathogen that infects a majority of the world's population. The virus can establish lifelong infection once the human body is infected by HCMV and virus can be reactivated from a latent state in immune suppressed individuals. HCMV has developed several strategies to evade host immune surveillance after millions of years of co-evolution with mankind. One of the classical tricks is encoding homologous to human immune factors or stealing host cellular genes that have significant functions in immune system. Virus encoded immune modulators which participate in regulating the major histocompatibility complex, cellular immunity, humoral immunity, cytokines and chemokines are supposed to play a significant role in the pathogenesis of HCMV. Evaluation of "mutually assured survival" relationship between virus and host provides important insights into viral immunopathogenesis and study of viral immunomodulatory proteins might help us to uncover new human genes that control immunity.