Few viruses use 'clever decoy' strategy to evade immune system: Study

While coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, New Zealand scientists recently discovered more about how viruses operate and can evade the immune system. According to a study published in the journal mBio, the research team said that they used the same technique to investigate changes in cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 in a bid to learn more about the deadly virus which has claimed over 775,000 lives globally. 

The researches looked specifically at the Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV) virus, which is an important biocontrol agent against the coconut rhinoceros beetle. The team said that it is a devastating pest for coconut and oil palm trees in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. As per the study, researchers found that the virus used a ‘decoy’ strategy to evade the immune system. They also explained that the recent findings are a small step in the bid to better understand infectious diseases like COVID-19. 

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The scientist used electron microscopy to investigate cellular changes occurring during nudivirus infection. They found a unique mechanism for how the virus work, the team noted that the disease acquires a membrane inside the nucleus of the infected cell and it gets fully equipped to infect new cells at the precise location. 

The study revealed that the process is in contrast with other enveloped viruses, including coronavirus, which is also an enveloped virus. The team said that the viruses derive their enveloped membrane from other cellular compartments. Dr Mihnea Bostina, the study author, said that the virus gets fully assembled, it used a ‘clever tactic’ of passing through different environments, packed inside various membrane structures until it gets released at the cellular membrane. 

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‘Clever strategy’ 

Another study researcher, Sai Velamoor, said that the aforementioned strategy implies that many of the viruses released by the infected cells will be enclosed in a cellular membrane while travelling inside the infected organism. 

Velamoor noted, “This means they will be missed by the immune system and they can use this membrane decoy to penetrate any other type of cells, without the need of a virus-specific receptor”. 

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She further added, ”It shows for the very first time a clever strategy available to insect viruses. It will be interesting to find in what measure other types of viruses - like the ones infecting humans - are also capable of carrying out a similar process”. 

The recent research demonstrated another manner in which viruses are capable of hijacking infected cells. The team revealed that it alerts scientists to the novel mechanism of viral transmission. Furthermore, the authors said that the viruses will never cease to amaze the researchers with their ‘indefatigable arsenal of tricks’. They also added that only by studying the viruses, the researchers can be prepared to adequately respond when they infect. 

(Image: Rep/Pixabay) 

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