Month: September 2022

VIRAL IMPRINTS. "Less recognized are the contributions to our metagenome from viruses that establish chronic infection and retroviral elements that infest our chromosomes. How the dynamic nature of the interactions between this internal virome and the host imprints our immune system, and perhaps our physiology more generally, has been given little consideration." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

VIRAL EQUILIBRIUMS. "Acute viral infection is a nonequilibrium process, whereas chronic viral infection is a process in dynamic and metastable equilibrium." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

ACUTE INFECTIONS. "During acute infection, both the host and virus change continuously until infection is resolved, kills the host, or becomes chronic. Certain genes in a virus or in the immune system are niche specific in that they function during acute but not chronic infection. Failure of these immune system genes to function effectively or too-effective evasion of immunity by viral genes can have devastating consequences." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

CHRONIC INFECTIONS. "The viral strategies...for the maintenance of chronic infection are balanced by the effects of the virus-specific immune response, thereby establishing a metastable equilibrium between host and pathogen. It is well established that there is a complex regulatory network that actively inhibits immune responses during chronic viral infections." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

DÉTENTE. "New evidence in animals indicates that chronic virus infection can fundamentally alter innate immunity to nonviral pathogens. IFN-γ expression during herpesvirus latency can symbiotically protect the host from infection by the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes and Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague. Thus, the détente developed between herpesviruses and their hosts over tens of millions of years of coevolution may offer benefits to the host." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

UBIQUITOUS INFECTIONS. "A rough calculation reveals that there are many billions of chronic virus infections in humans, with each of the ∼6.75 billion of us harboring ∼8–12 chronic infections. Some of these viruses are so common that one would be hard put to find uninfected control patients for studies to identify viral associations with disease or effects on the “normal” immune system." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

HIGH TURNOVER. "Even asymptomatic viruses such as anelloviruses are under continuous immune surveillance. It has been estimated that over 90% of anelloviruses in serum are replaced daily with over a billion new virions, suggesting that significant antigen expression may occur for years after the acquisition of infection in the first years of life." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

CROSSTALK. "There is significant crosstalk between chronic viral infections, as well as between viral infections and other types of infection. For example, HIV and HCV coinfection worsens the prognosis of both infections. The impact of persisting infections is not always negative. For example, infection by herpesviruses (HHV-6 or HHV-7) or GB virus C may inhibit HIV progression in some settings." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

SEA-CHANGE. "A sea-change in how we define viral infection is being driven by a combination of classical genetics and the genomic revolution. In this emerging view, the well-known role of host genetic variation comes to the fore because highly specific allelic polymorphisms or mutations predispose a limited number of individuals to diseases caused by viruses that otherwise only rarely cause overt disease. In a real sense, the genes in the host “cause” the disease, as the viruses can infect many but cause disease in only a few." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

SILENT MAJORITY. "Little is known about some of the viruses that inhabit us. This is due to the focus of research on viruses that cause disease in a high proportion of infected individuals. Many of the most prevalent chronic virus infections only rarely cause disease, are not associated with any disease at all, or cause disease primarily in immunocompromised individuals." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn