Viruses may induce apoptosis if they infect a host cell.

Question

In the case of a harmful virus, would this effect be good or bad for a human host, and why?

a. Inducing apoptosis would be bad because we would lose host cells and all host cells are valuable.

b. Inducing apoptosis would be bad because it would promote the spread of viruses throughout the body.

c. Inducing apoptosis would be good because a long-lived host cell would increase viral replication and perhaps cause cancer.

d. Inducing apoptosis would be neutral since it is a normal process anyway.

e. Inducing apoptosis would be neutral since the virus will kill the cell anyway.

Answer 1

T cells kill virus infected cells by initiating programmed cell death ( apoptosis ) by using perforin to penetrate the cell then "injecting " granzymes that induce the caspase cascade. Apoptosis is "good" in that the virus itself can be killed to some extent by granzymes ( they are proteases ) but also the virus is no longer shielded by the cell itself and can be attacked by neutralizing antibodies, taken up by dendritic cells for further presentation and further activation, etc . Apoptosis is a natural process for removing cells by a programmed process that causes condensation of the chromatin and cell shrinkage ...not cell rupture and indiscriminate spewing of contents.