Virology and Microbiology

Anti-virulence

Anti-virulence is the concept of blocking virulence factors, which are produced by viruses and enable them to achieve inhibition of the host’s immune response. These factors are used to promote colonization of the host. A major group of virulence factors are proteins that can control the activation levels of GTPases. Nowadays various virostatics targeting various viral replication steps are approved to treat critical infectious viral diseases. Gram-negative bacteria secrete a variety of virulence factors at host-pathogen interface.