Immune Responses to Viruses in the Central Nervous System
A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neurovirology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2024) | Viewed by 3164
Special Issue Editors
Interests: virus infection; neurodegeneration; protein aggregation; protein folding and misfolding; diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases
Interests: emerging CNS infection; neurovirology; neuroinfection; neurodegeneration
Interests: neuroimmunology; respiratory viral infection; cognition and behavior impairment; neurotrophins and neurotransmitters
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Several viruses can infect the central nervous system, causing meningitis, encephalitis, and myelitis. They are associated with the functional impairment of the nervous system and can be fatal or leave neurological sequelae. Neurons and glial cells—microglia, oligodendrocytes, and astrocytes—can be targets depending on virus tropism. Upon reaching the CNS, these viruses find defense mechanisms with peculiar characteristics different from those of other organs. These mechanisms aim to get rid of the infection without causing neurological damage. To limit virus replication, innate immune responses are activated upon recognizing viral pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), producing proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines and type I interferons. Adaptive immune responses lead to activated immune cells entering the CNS for virus clearance. Additionally, viruses have developed strategies for immune evasion, including disrupting downstream signaling pathways and detecting viral components. The immune imbalance might happen during infection and trigger neurological dysfunction, including neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Understanding the role of the immune system in viral infection aids in the development of treatment plans, even for persistent viral infections. In this Special Issue of Brain Sciences, we invite researchers to contribute original research and review articles dealing with neurotropic virus–host interactions, their pathological mechanisms, host immune responses, consequences of virus infection for the CNS, and therapeutic strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality of patients.
Dr. Tuane C.R.G. Vieira
Dr. Ivanildo Pedro de Sousa Junior
Dr. Karen Böhmwald
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- vrus infection
- neuroinvasion, immune response
- immune imbalance
- central nervous system
- antiviral immunity to CNS infection
