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/lp/annual-reviews/antigenic-variation-in-lentiviral-diseases-fxd68lk2jQ
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Copyright
- Copyright 1988 Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
- Subject
- Review Articles
- ISSN
- 0732-0582
- eISSN
- 1545-3278
- DOI
- 10.1146/annurev.iy.06.040188.001035
- pmid
- 2838047
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
Virus infections in animals involve complex virus-host interactions in which various schemes of replication of the agent are pitted against a multitude of host-defense mechanisms. The immune system is the most effective of the antiviral host defenses and usually succeeds in eliminating pathogens after brief periods of infection. Failure to cure infection indi cates a shift in favor of the virus, and this involves either some novel mechanism of viral replication that eludes the immune system or a defect in the immune system, often virus induced, that interferes with antiviral functions. This review examines one mode of viral persistence in which normal replication of the agent can occur in the functionally competent immune environment. The basic mechanism of this process is mutation of the virus genome with attendant alteration in surface antigens permitting escape from immune control. The lentiviruses are a unique group of agents that elude the host defense systems and that not only persist indefinitely in the infected animal but replicate continuously, often in the face of competent immune responses (1-3). These agents are nononcogenic retroviruses that infect cells of the immune system. They are host species-specific and are transmitted hori zontally from individual to individual
Journal
Annual Review of Immunology – Annual Reviews
Published: Apr 1, 1988