How embryos fight retroviral infection
Thursday, June 24, 2010 - 11:33
in Biology & Nature
Some viruses insert themselves into the host's DNA during infection in a process called retroviral integration, causing several diseases, including AIDS and cancer, notes a researcher who specializes in fetal diseases. However, stem cells that give rise to the early embryo and yolk sac fight back, inhibiting further infection by aggressively silencing the invading viral DNA, he says.