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Sexually Transmitted Diseases Are Caused By A Wide Range Of Viruses

Decent Essays

Darleene Rodriguez
Bio 416
08 May 2017
Immunotherapeutic Strategies
Sexually transmitted diseases are caused by a wide range of viruses. The most common viruses are: HIV-1, HSV-1/2, and HPV. Often the contraction of these viruses goes undiagnosed until the patient has acquired severe symptoms, by this time they have also transferred the disease to another individual. For this reason, the importance of developing and understanding immunotherapeutic strategies has become essential for immunologists (5). There are many factors that contribute to viral infection, therefore, targeting these virus specific factors is a key to preventing viral spread to neighboring cells. Factors like viral attachment, entry, un-coating, synthesis, assembly, and …show more content…

Cytokine therapy has been a crucial advance in the treatment of HIV because this disease is highly affiliated with cytokine production. Cytokines are inserted in tumor cells as immune stimulatory genes (5). Following insertion, the patient is injected with a cytokine based vaccine which is used as a therapeutic measure for cancer prevention in patients that have HPV. Activation of cytokines (IL-2, IL-12, GM-CSF) have been theorized to inhibit the growth on tumors. HIV is linked to a decline of the host’s immune system response and decrease of CD4 T cells, therefore cytokine therapy enables the production of these cells by treating patients with IL-2 (5). HPV has been associated with cancer and there is no cure for HPV, however, there are preventative and therapeutic medications (2,6). In the case of HPV vaccination, natural killer cells are activated which induce an immune response. Immune modulators have suppressive and stimulatory effects on macrophages. Stimulation allows for the secretion of cytokines which allows the immune system to produce antibodies due to the high antigen presentation in dendritic cells.
Although these viruses often remain undetected, HSV typically causes a more visible and painful reaction in the infected tissues. Shedding of the HSV virus is prominent when the symptoms occur (1). HSV-2 in responsible for genital herpes and may be one of the most

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