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Microorganisms
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Virulence of Viruses and Their Interaction with the Immune System
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Virulence of Viruses and Their Interaction with the Immune System

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Virology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 7868

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Pavel Bostik

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Medicine and Faculty Hospital, Charles University, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic
Interests: antibiotic resistance; molecular biology; hospital infections; natural compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Shubhada Bopegamage

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chair of the Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Slovak Medical University in, Limbova 14, 83303 Bratislava, Slovakia
Interests: virology; microbiology; diagnostics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Infections caused by viruses play an increasing role in human and animal medicine. Even after a century of our quest for antimicrobial drugs, we still have very few antiviral drugs for use in the treatment of serious and life-threatening viral infections. There is no specific treatment for most of the viral families causing diseases, and medical personnel are left with a narrow choice of supportive treatment and the hope that the infected host can mount an immune response robust enough to lead to a favorable outcome for the patient. We have some successful vaccines that can prevent some of the previously widespread viral diseases, which have been either eradicated or brought under control by the vaccination. Nevertheless, the major force in defeating most viral infections is the immune response of the infected organism. Thus, the key to understanding mechanisms of viral diseases from the perspective of disease outcome is to deepen our knowledge about the interaction of the infecting virus and the host immune response.

There are some viruses, such as HIV, in which this interaction has been extensively studied—mostly because, for example, the HIV virus infects the immune system itself. Yet, after more than 30 years of study, the exact immune correlates of the successful immune response are not clearly understood. However, this is almost a lone example, because the immune correlates of most viral diseases have not been studied at all, or our knowledge is only superficial.

For this Special Issue, we invite all papers focusing on the effect of viruses on the immune system, as well as their interaction and correlates of the immune system defense against infecting viruses. We also encourage studies which define the molecular correlates of virus virulence, as these may define the severity of infections, resistance to antivirals, and potentially immune escape variants.

Prof. Dr. Pavel Bostik
Dr. Shubhada Bopegamage
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • virulence
  • molecular typing
  • immunity
  • antivirals
  • human viruses

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 3948 KiB  
Article
Dynamics of Plasmatic Levels of Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Cytokines in HIV-Infected Individuals with M. tuberculosis Co-Infection
by Marina Nosik, Konstantin Ryzhov, Irina Rymanova, Alexandr Sobkin, Alexey Kravtchenko, Ulyana Kuimova, Vadim Pokrovsky, Vitaly Zverev and Oxana Svitich
Microorganisms 2021, 9(11), 2291; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9112291 - 04 Nov 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2509
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV have profound effects on the immune system, which can lead to the activation of viral replication and negatively regulate the activation of T cells. Dysregulation in the production of cytokines necessary to fight HIV and M. tuberculosis may ultimately [...] Read more.
Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV have profound effects on the immune system, which can lead to the activation of viral replication and negatively regulate the activation of T cells. Dysregulation in the production of cytokines necessary to fight HIV and M. tuberculosis may ultimately affect the results of the treatment and be important in the pathogenesis of HIV infection and TB. This work presents the results of a study of the expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-1RA) in drug-naïve patients with dual infection of HIV/TB at the late stages of HIV-infection, with newly diagnosed HIV and TB, and previously untreated HIV in the process of receiving antiretroviral (ART) and TB treatment vs. a cohort of patients with HIV monoinfection and TB monoinfection. The study revealed that during a double HIV/TB infection, both Th1 and Th2 immune responses are suppressed, and a prolonged dysregulation of the immune response and an increased severity of the disease in pulmonary/extrapulmonary tuberculosis is observed in HIV/TB co-infection. Moreover, it was revealed that a double HIV/TB infection is characterized by delayed and incomplete recovery of immune activity. High levels of IL-6 were detected in patients with HIV/TB co-infection before initiation of dual therapy (2.1-fold increase vs. HIV), which persisted even after 6 months of treatment (8.96-fold increase vs. HIV), unlike other cytokines. The persistent enhanced expression of IL-6 in patients with dual HIV/TB co-infection allows the consideration of it as a potential marker of early detection of M. tuberculosis infection in HIV-infected individuals. The results of multivariate regression analysis showed a statistical trend towards an increase in the incidence of IRIS in patients with high IL-1Ra levels (in the range of 1550–2500 pg/mL): OR = 4.3 (95%CI 3.7–14.12, p = 0.53), which also allows IL-1Ra to be considered as a potential predictive biomarker of the development of TB-IRIS and treatment outcomes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Virulence of Viruses and Their Interaction with the Immune System)
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15 pages, 9365 KiB  
Article
Elevated Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies and IL-6, IL-8, MIP-1β, Early Predictors of Severe COVID-19
by Helena Codina, Irene Vieitez, Alicia Gutierrez-Valencia, Vasso Skouridou, Cristina Martínez, Lucía Patiño, Mariluz Botero-Gallego, María Trujillo-Rodríguez, Ana Serna-Gallego, Esperanza Muñoz-Muela, María M. Bobillo, Alexandre Pérez, Jorge Julio Cabrera-Alvar, Manuel Crespo, Ciara K. O’Sullivan, Ezequiel Ruiz-Mateos and Eva Poveda
Microorganisms 2021, 9(11), 2259; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9112259 - 29 Oct 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2629
Abstract
Viral and host immune kinetics during acute COVID-19 and after remission of acute symptoms need better characterization. SARS-CoV-2 RNA, anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA, IgM, and IgG antibodies, and proinflammatory cytokines were measured in sequential samples from hospitalized COVID-19 patients during acute infection and six months [...] Read more.
Viral and host immune kinetics during acute COVID-19 and after remission of acute symptoms need better characterization. SARS-CoV-2 RNA, anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA, IgM, and IgG antibodies, and proinflammatory cytokines were measured in sequential samples from hospitalized COVID-19 patients during acute infection and six months following diagnosis. Twenty four laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patients with mild/moderate and severe COVID-19 were included. Most were males (83%) with a median age of 61 years. Twenty one percent were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and eight of them (33.3%) met the criteria for severe COVID-19 disease. A delay in SARS-CoV-2 levels’ decline during the first six days of follow up, and viral load persistence until month 3 were related to severe COVID-19, but not viral load levels at the diagnosis. Higher levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA, IgM, IgG and the cytokines IL-6, IL-8 and MIP-1β at the diagnosis time were related to the severe COVID-19 outcome. Higher levels of MIP-1β, IL-1β, MIP-1α and IFN-γ were observed at month 1 and 3 during mild/moderate disease, compared to severe COVID-19. IgG persisted at low levels after six months of diagnosis. In conclusion, higher concentrations of IgA, IgM, and IgG, and IL-6, IL-8 and MIP-1β are identified as early predictors of COVID-19 severity, whereas no significant association is found between baseline SARS-COV-2 viral load and COVID-19 severity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Virulence of Viruses and Their Interaction with the Immune System)
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12 pages, 852 KiB  
Article
Recovery of Innate Immune Cells and Persisting Alterations in Adaptive Immunity in the Peripheral Blood of Convalescent Plasma Donors at Eight Months Post SARS-CoV-2 Infection
by Ioannis V. Kostopoulos, Nikolaos Orologas-Stavrou, Pantelis Rousakis, Chrysanthi Panteli, Ioannis Ntanasis-Stathopoulos, Ioanna Charitaki, Eleni Korompoki, Maria Gavriatopoulou, Efstathios Kastritis, Ioannis P. Trougakos, Meletios-Athanasios Dimopoulos, Ourania E. Tsitsilonis and Evangelos Terpos
Microorganisms 2021, 9(3), 546; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9030546 - 06 Mar 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1983
Abstract
Persisting alterations and unique immune signatures have been previously detected in the peripheral blood of convalescent plasma (CP) donors at approximately two months after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. This article presents the results on the sequential analysis of 47 CP donors at a median [...] Read more.
Persisting alterations and unique immune signatures have been previously detected in the peripheral blood of convalescent plasma (CP) donors at approximately two months after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. This article presents the results on the sequential analysis of 47 CP donors at a median time of eight months (range 7.5–8.5 months) post infection, as assessed by flow cytometry. Interestingly, our results show a significant variation of the relevant immune subset composition among CP donors. Regarding innate immunity, both non-classical monocytes, and CD11b- granulocytes had fully recovered at eight months post COVID-19 infection. Intermediate monocytes and natural killer (NK) cells had already been restored at the two-month evaluation and remained stable. Regarding adaptive immunity, the COVID-19-related skewed Th1 and Th2 cell polarization remained at the same levels as in two months. However, low levels of total B cells were detected even after eight months from infection. A persisting reduction of CD8+ Tregs and changes in the NKT cell compartment were also remarkable. CP donors present with a unique immune landscape at eight months post COVID-19 infection, which is characterized by the notable restoration of the components of innate immunity along with a persisting imprint of SARS-CoV-2 in cells of the adaptive immunity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Virulence of Viruses and Their Interaction with the Immune System)
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