Herpesvirus evasion of T-cell immunity

Excerpt

The multiple layers of the human immune response present a challenge to viruses, which must survive and multiply within a host for a sufficient period of time to allow successful transmission to susceptible individuals. Given the large proteomes and comparatively low polymerase error rate of human herpesviruses, antiviral immunity at first glance appear to have the upper hand. Nonetheless, herpesviruses manage prolonged incubation periods following initial infection, with systemic dissemination and prolonged secretion, often from multiple sites. In contrast to the similarly large poxviruses, the ability to subsequently establish persistent infection is a hallmark of the human herpesviruses. To enable this lifestyle, the herpesviruses devote a significant proportion of their genome coding capacity to the expression of immuno-evasins, a collection of molecules that disrupt normal immune physiology. Each human herpesvirus studied has evolved elegant cell biological solutions to problems posed by the immune response.