Stanford Marianne M, McFadden Grant
BioTherapeutics Research Group, Robarts Research Institute & Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6G 2V4, Canada.
Trends Immunol. 2005 Jun;26(6):339-45. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2005.04.001.
Members of the Poxviridae family are particularly adept at avoiding the host immune system, encoding a plethora of immunomodulatory proteins that subvert host defense. With their large genome, poxviruses are also useful for studying the effect of exogenous genes on virus-host interactions and immune responses. The insertion of the Th2 cytokine interleukin-4 (IL-4) into several poxviruses significantly increases the efficiency of the recombinant virus as a pathogen by directly inhibiting the development of Th1 immunity, which is crucial for viral clearance. In an age in which the fear of genetically modified weaponized pathogens exists, the understanding of how to make viruses more pathogenic further blurs the distinction between fundamental academic research and bioweapons development. Here, the extent of immune evasion by IL-4-expressing poxviruses will be explored, as will the consequences of this increased pathogenicity on protective immune responses.
痘病毒科的成员特别擅长逃避宿主免疫系统，它们编码大量免疫调节蛋白来破坏宿主防御。凭借其庞大的基因组，痘病毒对于研究外源基因对病毒-宿主相互作用和免疫反应的影响也很有用。将Th2细胞因子白细胞介素-4（IL-4）插入几种痘病毒中，通过直接抑制对病毒清除至关重要的Th1免疫的发展，显著提高了重组病毒作为病原体的效率。在一个存在对转基因武器化病原体恐惧的时代，对如何使病毒更具致病性的理解进一步模糊了基础学术研究与生物武器开发之间的区别。在此，将探讨表达IL-4的痘病毒的免疫逃避程度，以及这种增加的致病性对保护性免疫反应的影响。
