Virus infection and vesicle trafficking.

Area of Science:

• Cell Biology
• Virology
• Molecular Medicine

Background:

• Vesicle trafficking is crucial for viral replication, but its precise regulation during infection is not fully understood.
• Viruses exploit host vesicle trafficking proteins for critical stages like entry, assembly, and immune evasion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review how viruses manipulate host vesicle trafficking networks during different infection phases.
• To explore how subversion of transport pathways optimizes viral infection and immune evasion.
• To evaluate current antiviral strategies targeting vesicle trafficking.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review of viral exploitation of host vesicular networks.
• Analysis of viral strategies for optimizing infection via transport pathway subversion.
• Evaluation of current therapeutic approaches targeting vesicle trafficking.

Main Results:

• Viruses utilize host vesicle trafficking for receptor-mediated endocytosis, attachment, intracellular transport, replication complex organization, and assembly/budding.
• Viral commandeering of trafficking pathways enhances cellular entry, immune evasion, and replication environments.
• Targeting vesicular transport nodes via protein inhibition or homeostasis disruption shows therapeutic potential.

Conclusions:

• Understanding viral manipulation of vesicle trafficking provides insights into infection dynamics.
• Vesicle-targeted antivirals represent a promising therapeutic avenue with clinical potential.
• This review offers frameworks for designing novel antiviral therapies based on vesicle trafficking modulation.