Mechanisms of apoptosis during reovirus infection.

Reovirus infection has proven to be an excellent experimental system for studying mechanisms of virus-induced pathogenesis. Reoviruses induce apoptosis in a wide variety of cultured cells in vitro and in target tissues in vivo, including the heart and central nervous system. In vivo, viral infection, tissue injury, and apoptosis colocalize, suggesting that apoptosis is a critical mechanism by which disease is triggered in the host. This review examines the mechanisms of reovirus-induced apoptosis and investigates the possibility that inhibition of apoptosis may provide a novel strategy for limiting virus-induced tissue damage following infection.