Viruses and their relationship to the autoimmune response

The most complex viruses have evolved in such a complex way that they are able to regulate and efficiently counteract our immune defences.

CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) is investigating a strategy to block the immune response employed by poxviruses, a viral family whose main exponent was the terrifying smallpox virus. The finding could open up new avenues for more effective drugs for certain autoimmune diseases.

Viruses are very familiar with how the immune system works, a better understanding of the mechanisms of immune evasion by highly virulent viruses can teach us new tricks to improve drugs.

The study has been conducted in mice using the smallpox model, one of the most virulent diseases that humans have ever faced. These viruses appear to produce a copy of the tumor necrosis factor, also called TNF (tumor necrosis factor), which is intended to suppress the immune response.

This cellular factor is involved in the initiation and coordination of the inflammatory response, after binding to specific receptors activates immune cells necessary for defense against infections, so that its blockage could be beneficial for the poxvirus but sometimes the TNF occurs uncontrollably and causes a chronic activation of the inflammatory response leading to autoimmune diseases.