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Article: Researchers discover how virus tricks the immune system.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Virus Weekly
- Article date:
- September 17, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 NewsRX. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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2002 SEP 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Herpes viruses enter the body and hide away in cells, often re-emerging later to cause illnesses such as shingles, genital herpes and cancer.
How these viruses evade the immune system remains poorly understood, but researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri discovered that a mouse herpes virus uses molecules that mimic a cell's own proteins to help thwart an immune attack.
The findings also suggest that a branch of the immune system known as the complement system may play a more important role in controlling herpes virus infections than previously thought. The study is ...