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Updated: Dec 3, 2025

Arbovirus Infections As Screening Tools for the Identification of Viral Immunomodulators and Host Antiviral Factors
Published on: September 13, 2018
Oxygen Sensing and Viral Replication: Implications for Tropism and Pathogenesis
Peter Jianrui Liu1, Peter Balfe1, Jane A McKeating1
1Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7FZ, UK.
Abstract:
The ability to detect and respond to varying oxygen tension is an essential prerequisite to life. Several mechanisms regulate the cellular response to oxygen including the prolyl hydroxylase domain (PHD)/factor inhibiting HIF (FIH)-hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) pathway, cysteamine (2-aminoethanethiol) dioxygenase (ADO) system, and the lysine-specific demethylases (KDM) 5A and KDM6A. Using a systems-based approach we discuss the literature on oxygen sensing pathways in the context of virus replication in different tissues that experience variable oxygen tension. Current information supports a model where the PHD-HIF pathway enhances the replication of viruses infecting tissues under low oxygen, however, the reverse is true for viruses with a selective tropism for higher oxygen environments. Differences in oxygen tension and associated HIF signaling may play an important role in viral tropism and pathogenesis. Thus, pharmaceutical agents that modulate HIF activity could provide novel treatment options for viral infections and associated pathological conditions.
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