To shed light on the influence of HCMV infection on the pathogenesis of hepatitis, primary human hepatocytes obtained from human livers were engrafted via splenic injection of SCID/albumin linked-urokinase type plasminogen activator (SCID/Alb-uPA) transgenic mice—a well-established model for engrafting human hepatocytes. Here, ALB is linked to cytomegalovirus infection.