The role of dendritic cells in viral persistence

Abstract

Viruses must modulate or suppress their host's immune system in order to persist. In this review, we discuss the means in which the lympocytic choriomenengitis virus targets and infects an essential component of the immune system, the dendritic cell, essential to bridging the innate and adaptive immune response. Infection of these cells results in pleiotropic effects that serve to deregulate the host immune response.

Figure 1. Displacement of the extracellular matrix protein laminin from α-dystroglycan leads to subsequent viral infection

A) The weak affinity of the Armstrong 53b isolate for α-dystroglycan is unable to compete with laminin for binding and thus cannot efficiently infect dendritic cells. B) The strong affinity between LCMV Clone 13 and α-dystroglycan mediated by a leucine at position 260 can compete off laminin from the heavily glycosylated region of the mucin domain causing efficient infection of the target cell.

Figure 2. Mechanisms to disrupt DC function during persistent LCMV infection

Dendritic cells are targeted for infection by CL-13. Consequently, multiple events occur that all ultimately lead to a general immunosuppression that not only allows persistence of the virus but leads to poor responses to secondary infections with other pathogens.