from Silvia Vidal, Astrid Krmpotić, Michal Pyzik and Stipan Jonjić writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention:
Cells of the innate immune system, including macrophages, DCs and NK cells play an important role in the control of viral infection before the induction of a specific immune response, of which generation they are also crucial. The infection of mice with MCMV as a model of HCMV infection has been particularly informative in elucidating the role of innate and adaptive immune response mechanisms during infection. NK cells are considered the most important effector cells in early CMV surveillance. An evolutionary struggle between NK cells and CMVs can be inferred from the existence of a broad range of viral mechanisms designed to compromise NK-cell function. This review describes major innate immune response mechanisms involved in control of MCMV, with an emphasis on NK-cell mediated viral detection as well as virally-encoded immune evasion mechanisms.
Further reading: Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention