Viral and Host Cellular Factors Used by Neurotropic Viruses

Abstract Neurotropic viruses invade the nervous system to infect the central nervous system (CNS). Although CNS is protected by barriers and host immune responses, some viruses enter the CNS by infecting the peripheral nervous system or by crossing the blood–brain barrier eventually weakening the host. Majority of neurotropic viruses cause lethal infection potentially damaging the host while few have evolved to exploit the nervous system to establish a lifelong latency phase. Here, we focus on the infection of neurotropic viruses explaining the interaction between viral and host cellular factors with emphasis on poliovirus, Zika virus, varicella zoster virus, herpes simplex virus-1, Japanese encephalitis virus and rabies virus.