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Viral immunity

Persistent viruses help opportunists

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 6, pages 876–877 (2008)Cite this article

Persistent viral infections make the host more susceptible to opportunistic infections by decreasing the production of type I interferons (IFNs) by plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) according to a study by Oldstone and colleagues.

To investigate the effect of viral infection on the pDC-mediated production of type I IFNs, the authors infected mice with two isolates of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) that mimic acute and persistent infection, and examined the levels of type I IFNs in the serum. Infection with both isolates induced high levels of type I IFN secretion, which peaked 1 day after infection and decreased 5 days later. Importantly, challenging the mice with the TLR9 ligand CpG-containing oligodeoxynucleotide 5 days after infection did not induce type I IFN production, which suggested that LCMV infection suppressed the innate immune response.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Zuniga, E. I., Liou, L. Y., Mack, L., Mendoza, M. & Oldstone, M. B. Persistent virus infection inhibits type I interferon production by plasmacytoid dendritic cells to facilitate opportunistic infections. Cell Host Microbe 16, 374–386 (2008)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Gilliet, M., Cao, W. & Liu, Y. J. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells: sensing nucleic acids in viral infection and autoimmune diseases. Nature Rev. Immunol. 8, 594–606 (2008)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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  1. Copy editor, Nature Reviews Immunology,

    Rachel David

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  1. Rachel David
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David, R. Persistent viruses help opportunists. Nat Rev Microbiol 6, 876–877 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2040

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2040

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