Host-related immunomodulators encoded by poxviruses and herpesviruses

In the past year, important advances have been made in the area of host-related immunomodulatory genes encoded by the larger DNA viruses, particularly for the poxviruses and herpesviruses. Not only has the repertoire of viral immunomodulator homologs expanded as a result of sequencing the complete genome of another six large DNA viruses, but also new concepts of how they work have been proposed and in some cases supported by in vivo evidence. Recent developments have been made in understanding a spectrum of host-related viral modulators, including complement control proteins, TNF-receptor homologs, IL-18 binding proteins, viral interleukins (vIL-6 and vIL-10), chemokine mimics and chemokine receptor homologs.