Authors: Martha Powell, Future Science Group
New research has suggested that vaccinia viruses trick infected host cells into activating their cell movement mechanism, rapidly spreading the virus.
The study, published recently in Nature Microbiology, tracked both infected and un-infected individual cells in cell culture. The team assessed the poxvirus protein vaccinia growth factor (VGF), which mimics epidermal growth factor – a host protein that stimulates growth in healthy cells and plays a key role in activating cell movement.
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