From the Guidelines
The correct characteristic of a virus that protects it from immune system recognition is its ability to implement complex host cell rearrangements, including changes to ion gradients across viral and host membranes, through the action of viroporins, as identified in a recent review 1. This ability allows viruses to evade immune detection by altering their interaction with the host cell environment. Key features of viroporins include:
- Increasing membrane permeability to ions and other small solutes
- Carrying out critical functions during virus life cycles
- Being continuously identified in a growing number of viruses, as noted in recent studies 1 The action of viroporins provides a strategy for viruses to protect themselves from immune system recognition, by modifying the host cell environment and making it more conducive to viral replication and survival. For example, the influenza A virus uses viroporins to increase membrane permeability, which is essential for its life cycle, and this process can be targeted by antiviral drugs, such as amantadine and rimantadine, as discussed in the recent review 1. Overall, the ability of viruses to modify their host cell environment through viroporins is a critical mechanism that protects them from immune system recognition, and understanding this process can provide opportunities for the development of new antiviral therapies.
From the Research
Characteristic of a Virus that Protects it from Immune System Recognition
- The characteristic of a virus that protects it from immune system recognition is its ability to undergo antigenic variation, which allows it to evade existing immunity 2, 3, 4.
- This antigenic variation is achieved through mutations in the virion surface glycoproteins, such as hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), which enables the virus to escape recognition by the immune system 2, 3, 4.
- The error-prone polymerase of the virus enables the rapid antigenic evolution of these surface glycoproteins, allowing the virus to continuously change its antigenic profile and evade the immune system 2.
- The immune system's tendency to respond to foreign immunogens in a hierarchical manner, known as immunodominance, also plays a role in the virus's ability to evade recognition 2, 4.
Mechanisms of Immune Evasion
- Amino acid substitutions in the head of the HA protein enable the virus to evade antibody-based immunity 2.
- The virus can also evade recognition by directing the immune response towards immunodominant, variable epitopes rather than subdominant, functionally conserved sites 4.
- The evolution of the mutation rate and other nonantigenic traits, such as virulence, is influenced by the trade-off between the benefits of antigenic escape and the costs of reduced fitness 5.