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Published online 20 June 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.907

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Measles doesn't work in the way we thought

Virus attacks the immune system, not the airways.

Katharine Sanderson

The infectious romp that the measles virus takes through the body doesn’t need to involve the airways, as was previously thought. Instead, the virus prefers to replicate in immune cells.

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  • exciting discovery! The discovery could help doctors understand and prevent the transmission of Measles. It also provides a potential method for delivering cancer treatments. I have two questions about this study: Question 1. Cattaneo’s team made a measles virus that was 'blind' to the measles receptors in the airway linings, which are known as epithelial-cell receptors. My question is: if the measles virus don't infect the cells that line the airways through the epithelial-cell receptors, for example, they maybe use other pathways. If it was true, the conlusion that Virus attacks the immune system, not the airways maybe need more evidences. Question 2. If the conlusion that Virus attacks the immune system, not the airways is true, then how the measles virus enter the lymphatic cells

    • 23 Jun, 2008
    • Posted by: shizhu zang