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Arbovirus Infections As Screening Tools for the Identification of Viral Immunomodulators and Host Antiviral Factors
Published on: September 13, 2018
Physiological significance of apoptosis in animal virus infection
A H Koyama1, T Fukumori, M Fujita
1Department of Virology, School of Medicine, The University of Tokushima, 770-8503, Tokushima, Japan.
Abstract:
In contrast to insect viruses, animal viruses can produce considerable amounts of progeny virus in cells undergoing apoptosis. Nevertheless, viruses in general have acquired the ability to escape apoptosis of infected cells. These facts indicate that the role of apoptosis in virus infection is different in insect virus and animal virus, although both viruses need to avoid apoptosis of the infected cells for a viral life cycle in nature. In animal virus infection, the primary role of apoptosis is considered not to be a premature lysis of the infected cells (and the following abortion of virus multiplication) but to allow the dying cells to be phagocytosed by macrophages. This phagocytosis is able to prevent dysregulated inflammatory reactions at the site of virus infection and to initiate a specific immune response against the infected virus.
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