EV-Virus Taskforce

About

EVs and viruses? Research on the interplay between EVs and viruses has intensified and attracted increased interest in the last decade. Current data indicate that viruses and EVs have overlapping biogenesis pathways and that infections can have a strong impact on host EV biogenesis, and cause drastic changes in the release and composition of EVs. Virus-induced EVs can help viruses spread (by shielding virus particles or acting as decoys) and are also important interactors with the immune system during virus infections. We see three main reasons why this area is important to explore further: 1) viruses can teach us about EV biogenesis, because they interfere with it; 2) EVs are part of the viral life cycle, and therefore play an important role in infectious diseases; 3) viral strategies to modulate EV release/function can inspire the design of engineered/mimic EVs for therapy or drug delivery.

Why a Taskforce?

Besides the interest and potential of this research field, it has also encountered serious technical challenges. EVs and viruses are 'lookalikes' in terms of size and biophysical properties, and both contain (membrane) proteins, nucleic acids and a lipid bilayer (for enveloped viruses). An extra complication is that during infection EVs can incorporate viral proteins or genetic material. So, while the field progresses, it has become more and more clear that 1) it is technically very difficult to separately isolate EVs and virus particles that are co-released and 2) we miss clear definitions for the terms like 'virus-induced EV', 'defective virus', 'virus-like particle', and 'virion'. Hence, there is an urgent need to map out the field, come up with clear definitions, and provide guidelines for nomenclature, procedures and reporting.

With a small team of researchers specialized in the field of EV-virus research we are currently setting up the structure of the EV-virus taskforce. Are you interested in supporting this taskforce? We are planning to generate output for which we definitively need help from other EV-virus researchers within ISEV. Keep an eye on this website and e-mail for announcements!