Poxvirus host interactions, pathogenesis and immunity

痘病毒包括具有脊椎动物和无脊椎动物宿主的复杂DNA病毒的大家族。两种痘病毒，天花病毒和传染性软疣病毒，是特定的人类病原体。天花病毒是天花的原因，直到后者被根除，但仍然担心，因为潜在的使用生物武器。传染性软疣病毒在免疫功能正常的婴儿中引起良性皮肤病变，在免疫缺陷的成人中引起更严重和广泛的疾病。此外，几种动物痘病毒可以作为人畜共患病传播给人类。其中最严重的是猴痘，估计人类死亡率为1%至10%。痘病毒表达大量有助于毒力的宿主免疫逃避基因。本项目的目的是增加我们对痘病毒致病机理的理解和对痘病毒免疫的基础。进行人类全基因组RNAi筛选以确定影响痘病毒复制的宿主因素。

Poxviruses comprise a large family of complex DNA viruses that have vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. Two poxviruses, variola virus and molluscum contagiosum virus, are specific human pathogens. Variola virus was the cause of smallpox until the latter was eradicated but is still feared because of potential use a biological weapon. Molluscum contagiosum virus causes benign skin lesions in immunocompetent infants and a more severe and widespread disease in immunodeficient adults. In addition, several animal poxviruses can be transmitted to humans as zoonosis. The most serious of these is monkeypox, which has an estimated human mortality of 1 to 10%. The poxviruses express a large number of host immune evasion genes that contribute to virulence. The purpose of this project is to increase our understanding of poxvirus pathogenesis and the basis for immunity to poxviruses. Human genome-wide RNAi screens were conducted to determine host factors that impact poxvirus replication.