Host–virus Interaction, Immune Responses and Disease Risk

Dear Colleagues,

Emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases have become a major public health concern around the globe. Viruses are small, obligate, intracellular parasites, and their reproduction relies entirely on the cell's translational machinery. Due to this dependence, viruses have evolved conserved mechanisms for hijacking host-cell machinery and targeting immune pathways. Virus-associated molecules are recognized by host cells trough different pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs). These PRRs activate complex downstream signaling pathways that stimulate an antiviral response via the production of interferons, cytokines, proapoptotic factors, microRNAs and the activation and maturation of innate and acquired immune cellular arms.

Hence, the scope of this Special Issue titled “Host–Virus Interaction, Immune Responses, and Disease Risk” will be the following: I) to characterize the lifecycle of viruses and to identify cellular functions and molecular mechanisms that participate in viral restriction; II) to evaluate dynamic relationships between viruses and immunity, with a focus on the processes underlying the induction and detrimental function of cytokines during acute or persistent viral infections.

This Special Issue will provide some key examples on how the rapid identification of virus-host interactions is essential to reach a comprehensive understanding of the viral infection process, and how this can lead to new advances in novel potential treatments or for the repurposing of available drugs.

Dr. Carolina Scagnolari
Guest Editor

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