Abstract
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) infects most children by five years of age. The virus can cause both upper and lower respiratory tract disease and can be life threatening. High-risk populations include young children who are exposed to virus for the first time and the elderly. Currently, there is no standard treatment nor licensed vaccine for HMPV, although several attractive vaccine candidates have been developed for pre-clinical studies. A raised awareness of the impact of HMPV on public health is needed to drive research, complete vaccine development, and thereby prevent significant virus-associated morbidities and mortalities worldwide.
Highlights
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) virions contain a ribonucleocapsid core consisting of viral RNA, nucleocapsid (N) protein, polymerase (L) protein, phosphoprotein (P), and M2-1 protein [4]
Envelope spikes projecting from the virus include a small hydrophobic (SH) protein and the attachment (G) and fusion (F) glycoproteins
HMPV and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were previously classified as members of the Paramyxoviridae family; listings were recently changed by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) [6]
Summary
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a negative-strand RNA virus that replicates in the cytoplasm [1]. HMPV shares many features with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) of the genus Orthopneumovirus and family. HMPV envelope glycoproteins include the G and F proteins. High-resolution structures have been obtained for the HMPV F protein ectodomain in both prefusion and postfusion forms [9,10] These structures share many structural features common to prefusion and postfusion forms of the F proteins from RSV and paramyxoviruses [11,12,13,14]. HMPV [29,30] These assays can score the viral nucleic acids and proteins of an acute infection and they may score residual viral components after replication-competent virus has been cleared. Tertiary monkey kidney epithelial cells were eventually found to support robust HMPV amplification and CPE [1]
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