The Role of Virus Receptor Recognition in the Determination of Pathogenesis

Viral interaction with its cellular receptor on the surface of the host cell initiates a cascade of events that lead to the entry of virus into the cell. The interaction and subsequent attachment of virus with the host cell is specific to the type of cellular receptor expressed on the cell surface. In that way virus discriminately infect certain cell lines or organism species and groups. A cellular receptor can independently mediate viral entry into the host cell, whereas in some cases, other co-receptors or even substances produced as a result of signal transduction are required. Herein, we review the cellular receptors of some medically important viruses and their contributions in the viral infection.