Virus Rampage

Measles kills an estimated 122,000 people per year, mostly children in developing countries. It’s caused by a virus that invades human cells and induces them to fuse together into dysfunctional clumps called syncytia – one such clump is pictured here, formed from six cells. To defend themselves, cells produce a protein called RLRS that recognises strands of viral RNA – the invader’s genetic material – and triggers the production of enzymes that attack the virus. In a recent experiment, scientists infected cells with the measles virus and then isolated the RLRS-RNA complexes so that the interaction between the two molecules could be studied in detail. A better understanding of this immune response could help us to develop new anti-viral drugs and increase our knowledge of auto-immune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Written by Mick Warwicker

Mick Warwicker

Writer

A freelance communications consultant and writer, Mick specialises in science and education. A science graduate and award-winning print and broadcast journalist, he was Head of Communications at Newcastle University from 2000–2011.

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• Image by Konstantin Sparrer
• Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS Pathogens, April 2014