How RSV manipulates the immune response in respiratory cells

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause severe lower respiratory tract infections, particularly in newborns and older adults.

How the virus manages to evade the immune system and what changes it triggers in infected cells have not been fully understood.

Researchers from TWINCORE, Center for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, together with interdisciplinary colleagues from Würzburg, Regensburg, Braunschweig and Hannover, have now demonstrated how the virus interferes with the genetic program of respiratory cells, inhibits the immune response and disrupts cell function.

They published their findings in the journal Science Advances. ...