[en] Thymus dysfunction, especially immune suppression, is frequently associated
with various virus infections.Whether viruses may disturb the thymus function
and play a role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases is an open
issue. Enteroviruses, especially Coxsackievirus B4 (CV-B4), have been largely
suggested as potential inducers or aggravating factors of type 1 diabetes
(T1D) pathogenesis in genetically predisposed individuals. Several pathogenic
mechanisms of enterovirus-induced T1D have been suggested. One of
these mechanisms is the impairment of central self-tolerance due to viral
infections. Coxsackievirus-B4 is able to infect murine thymus in vitro and in
vivo and to infect human thymus in vitro. Thymic epithelial cells and thymocytes
are targets of infection with this virus, and several abnormalities,
especially disturbance of maturation/differentiation processes, were
observed.Altogether, these data suggest that CV-B infection of thymus may be
involved in the pathogenesis of T1D. Further investigations are needed to
explore this hypothesis.
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