Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:01:36.395Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Measles virus and immunomodulation: molecular bases and perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2004

Sibylle Schneider-Schaulies
Affiliation:
Institute for Virology and Immunobiology, University of Würzburg, Versbacher Str. 7, D-97078 Würzburg, Germany.
Volker ter Meulen
Affiliation:
Institute for Virology and Immunobiology, University of Würzburg, Versbacher Str. 7, D-97078 Würzburg, Germany.

Abstract

Measles virus (MV) remains among the most potent global pathogens, killing more than 1 million children annually. The virus induces a profound suppression of immune functions that favours the establishment of, and aggravates the course of, secondary infections. By contrast, MV-specific immune responses are efficiently generated, and these clear the virus from the organism and confer a long-lasting immunity. As sensitisers of pathogen encounter and instructors of the adaptive immune response, professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) such as dendritic cells play a decisive role in the induction and quality of the MV-specific immune response. However, key features of immune suppression associated with MV are compatible with interference with APC maturation and function, and subsequent qualitative and quantitative alterations of T-cell activation.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)