Viruses and Dendritic Cells: A Prominent Mechanism for Subverting the Immune Response
Elina Zuniga, Kurt Edelmann and Michael Oldstone
from: Microbial Subversion of Immunity: Current Topics (Edited by: Peter J. Lachmann and M.B.A. Oldstone). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2006)
Abstract
Viruses have evolved multiple strategies to counteract host immune responses. The essential role played by DCs in host defense to pathogens makes them an ideal choice for viruses to suppress the immune response and maximize their chances of survival, replication and transmission. Indeed many viruses that cause diseases and major health problems are able to interfere with the ability of DCs to prime an efficient and effective anti-viral immune response. By analogy to human viral infections, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection in its natural host (the mouse) provides a convenient and powerful model system to study how viruses influence the DC compartment, avoid immunological surveillance and cause a persistent infection. In this chapter we briefly review the DC fundamental role during immune response, the several strategies of human viruses to subvert DC function and finally we describe in more detail the DC-virus interaction and its consequences in the LCMV murine model system read more ...
