Abstract

Virus-encoded immune evasion mechanisms provide information on viral pathogenesis and offer a unique opportunity to identify new strategies of immune modulation. Secreted proteins that bind a broad range of chemokines have been identified in recent years in poxviruses and herpesviruses. We discuss the properties of these viral chemokine inhibitors and their potential as new therapeutics to treat human inflammatory diseases.

Keywords: immune responses, immunomodulatory proteins, chemokine antagonists, myxoma virus, leporipoxvirus, recombinant protein, virus infection, bronchiolar lavage (bal)