A systemic macrophage response is required to contain a peripheral poxvirus infection

Author summary Prior to the eradication of variola virus, the orthopoxvirus that causes smallpox, one-third of infected people succumbed to the disease. Despite many complications, smallpox vaccination using vaccinia virus enabled a successful eradication of the disease. Following smallpox eradication, vaccinia (the smallpox vaccine) remains a widely used vaccine vector, so any information about the immune response to the vector can help engineer safer vaccines, or treatment, following complications of immunization. During natural infection, orthopoxviruses spread from a peripheral site of infection to become systemic. This study elucidates the early requirement of innate immune cells to control spread of the smallpox vaccine vector after a peripheral infection. We report that systemic populations of cells, rather than those recruited to the site of infection, are responsible for preventing virus dissemination. The viral control mediated by these cell subsets presents a potential target for therapies and rational vaccine design.See it on Scoop.it, via Viruses and Bioinformatics from Virology.uvic.ca
A systemic macrophage response is required to contain a peripheral poxvirus infection
Source: Viral Bioinformatics