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Updated: Jul 9, 2026

siRNA Electroporation to Modulate Autophagy in Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1-Infected Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells
Published on: October 28, 2019
Viral evasion of autophagy
Anthony Orvedahl1, Beth Levine
1Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA.
Abstract:
Autophagy is an evolutionarily ancient pathway for survival during different forms of cellular stress, including infection with viruses and other intracellular pathogens. Autophagy may protect against viral infection through degradation of viral components (xenophagy), by promoting the survival or death of infected cells, through delivery of Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands to endosomes to activate innate immunity, or by feeding antigens to MHC class II compartments to activate adaptive immunity. Given this integral role of autophagy in innate and adaptive antiviral immunity, selective pressure likely promoted the emergence of escape mechanisms by pathogenic viruses. This review will briefly summarize the current understanding of autophagy as an antiviral pathway, and then discuss strategies that viruses may utilize to evade this host defense mechanism.
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