The role of dendritic cells in viral persistence

Viruses must modulate or suppress their host's immune system in order to persist. In this review, we discuss the means in which the lymphocytic choriomenengitis virus targets and infects an essential component of the immune system, the dendritic cell, essential to bridging the innate and adaptive immune response. Infection of these cells results in pleiotropic effects that serve to deregulate the host immune response.