Beyond HIV infection: neglected and varied impacts of CCR5 and CCR5 Δ32 on viral diseases.

Beyond HIV infection: neglected and varied impacts of CCR5 and CCR5Δ32 on viral diseases. Virus Res. 2020 May 29;:198040 Authors: Ellwanger JH, Kulmann-Leal B, Kaminski VL, Rodrigues AG, de Souza Bragatte MA, Chies JAB Abstract The interactions between chemokine receptors and their ligands may affect susceptibility to infectious diseases as well as their clinical manifestations. These interactions mediate both the traffic of inflammatory cells and virus-associated immune responses. In the context of viral infections, the human C-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5) receives great attention from the scientific community due to its role as an HIV-1 co-receptor. The genetic variant CCR5Δ32 (32 base-pair deletion in CCR5 gene) impairs CCR5 expression on the cell surface and is associated with protection against HIV infection in homozygous individuals. Also, the genetic variant CCR5Δ32 modifies the CCR5-mediated inflammatory responses in various conditions, such as inflammatory and infectious diseases. CCR5 antagonists mimic, at least in part, the natural effects of the CCR5Δ32 in humans, which explains the growing interest in the potential benefits of using CCR5 modulators for the treatment of different diseases. Nevertheless, beyond HIV infection, understanding the effects of the CCR5Δ32 variant in multiple viral infections is essential to shed light on the potential effects of the CCR5 modulators from a broader perspective. In this ...
Source: Virus Research - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Virus Res Source Type: research