New Mechanism of Antiviral Immunity Discovered
Study shows how cells target viruses in first hour after infection
Researchers have figured out a missing piece of the puzzle of how human cells detect invading viruses and mount an immune response within an hour.
This new insight into the mechanics of the battle between viruses and hosts could provide important clues for improving vaccines, gene therapies, and other treatments that use viruses to deliver medicines or fight disease themselves, the researchers said.
The findings published Aug. 18 in PNAS.
“It’s important to understand the details of how viruses and the body’s immune system interact, because those details give us a better idea of how we can use the same techniques to build better medicines,” said senior author David Knipe, the Higgins Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School.