T
he current issue of Viral Immunology
features a focus on humoral immunity. A total of eight papers address different aspects of the antibody response to viral infection and they encompass both animal models and clinical studies. Several of the papers come from the perspective that a thorough understanding of humoral immune responses depends on our ability to accurately measure and evaluate those responses. In this regard, Eksioglu et al. have developed and validated a neutralization assay to measure hepatitis C virus neutralization, and used it to study anti-HCV antibodies in patients who were treated with interleukin-10 (IL-10); Durzyńska et al. have developed an approach to measure anti-human papillomavirus antibodies in immune sera from patients suffering from recurrent respiratory papillomatosis; Kantola et al. have developed an approach for studying the prevalence of polyomavirus in both children and adults; and Poland and colleagues have assessed and compared rubella virus-specific IgG antibody immunoassays. Several other papers either describe studies on the capacity of vaccines to elicit antibody responses against a variety of infections, such as lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (Rajini et al.), and swineorigin influenza A virus (Shin et al.), or identify neutralizing epitopes in a virus of agricultural significance (porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, Vanhee et al.). The final paper in the feature investigates the impact of antibodies on the efficacy of infection (coxsackievirus B3, Jarasch-Althof et al.).
In addition to humoral immunity, several papers in this issue address cellular and innate responses to viral infections. On the cellular immunity frontier, Charerntantanakul and Kasinrerk address the role of IL-10 in the proinflammatory cytokine responses to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, and Kyuwa et al. have developed an experimental model that may be used to assess the role of interferon-γ in the persistence of a murine coronavirus in vivo. On the innate immunity frontier, Bassaganya-Riera et al. review the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors in antagonizing inflammatory pathways and modulating lipid and glucose metabolism. In addition, two papers address the role of the mannose-binding lectin associated with the human innate immune response to cytomegalovirus infection (Hu et al.) and hepatitis B virus infection (Filho et al.).
