MERS-CoV and H5N1 influenza virus antagonize antigen presentation by altering the epigenetic landscape

Menachery, Vineet D.; Schäfer, Alexandra; Burnum-Johnson, Kristin E.; Mitchell, Hugh D.; Eisfeld, Amie J.; Walters, Kevin B.; Nicora, Carrie D.; Purvine, Samuel O.; Casey, Cameron P.; Monroe, Matthew E.; Weitz, Karl K.; Stratton, Kelly G.; Webb-Robertson, Bobbie-Jo M.; Gralinski, Lisa E.; Metz, Thomas O.; Smith, Richard D.; Waters, Katrina M.; Sims, Amy C.; Kawaoka, Yoshihiro; Baric, Ralph S.

The data in this work highlight the utility of leveraging viral cross-comparisons as a way to identify host factors impacting disease outcomes. Convergent evolution predicts that diverse viruses will utilize similar and divergent strategies to overcome common host immune responses to produce successful infections (33) . Therefore, in leveraging available systems-based datasets, we seek similarities and contrast between viruses while taking advantage of uniform platforms, infection conditions, and data collection methods (34) . The results have provided insights into both MERS-CoV and H5N1-VN1203 manipulation of IFN responses and antigen presentation. These findings provide not only a better understanding of the host response to infection, but also have the potential to aid in the development of treatment and prevention strategies. Future studies should expand these approaches to explore other specific aspects of immunity, including inflammatory responses, apoptosis, and autophagy. Similarly, viral cross-comparisons can also be integrated across data types as well as in vitro and in vivo systems as an additional metric for more traditional modeling approaches (35) (36) (37) (38) . Importantly, much of this analysis can occur on publicly available datasets, increasing both the utility and impact of already existing systems data (34, 39) . Overall, surveying contrasts in host responses between viruses represents a powerful means to understand treatment and pathogenesis.