Research group of prof. Savvas Savvides unravels viruses’ strategies to dodge immune systems

CRIG

Mammalian viruses evolve and can evade the antiviral immune responses of their mammal hosts. An international team of researchers, led by prof. Savvas Savvides (VIB-IRC, UGent), studied the GIF protein that causes Orf, or ‘thistle disease’, and unraveled molecular strategies that are used by viruses to counter the mammalian immune system. These findings were published in Nature Communications, and provide the basis for the development of antiviral therapies and to exploit the potency of viral proteins to tweak the human immune system to target inflammatory diseases and cancer.