Mechanisms involved in the establishment of viral persistance

病毒感染仍然是世界范围内的一个主要健康问题。目前迫切需要更多和更好的疫苗，以预防一些人类和动物病毒感染。有趣的是，大多数现有的有效疫苗都是通过产生抗体来提供保护的。然而，抗体有效产生和赋予保护的机制仍然知之甚少。一些病毒感染引发快速有效的抗体反应，而另一些病毒感染只引起较差和较晚的反应。我们正在研究有效生产高质量抗体所涉及的分子机制，这些抗体可以保护人体免受病毒感染。因此，这项研究计划将旨在确定持续性病毒诱导中和抗体能力差的原因以及提高其免疫原性的方法。这项研究的结果将有助于改进针对HCV和HIV等重要人类病毒感染的更有效疫苗的设计。

Virus infections remain a major health concern worldwide. There is an urgent need for more and better vaccines against a number of human and animal viral infections. Interestingly, most of the available effective vaccines protect through the production of antibodies. However, the mechanisms by which antibodies are efficiently generated and confer protection remain poorly understood. Some virus infections trigger a rapid and efficient antibody response whereas others only induce poor and late responses. We are studying the molecular mechanisms involved in the efficient production of antibodies of high quality that can confer protection against virus infections. This research program will thus aim at identifying the reasons for the poor ability of persisting viruses to induce neutralizing antibodies and ways to improve their immunogenicity. The results from this study will help to improve the design of more effective vaccines against important human viral infections like those caused by HCV and HIV.