Dear Colleagues, 

Cells have an innate capacity to activate effective antiviral countermeasures that can limit viral replication and viral dissemination. Among these antiviral responses, cell death and autophagy are common host defense mechanisms against viral infection that eliminates virus-infected cells before the production of progeny virions. Herpesviruses have a long history of co-evolution with the host species, and they can successfully survive in the host for life, as in the case of alphaherpesviruses. Therefore,  herpesviruses have evolved various strategies to suppress apoptosis and autophagy by encoding anti-apoptotic factors or regulating apoptotic  and autophagic signaling pathways, which promote viral propagation and evasion of the host defense. However, evading cell-death-based defenses may also lead to virus-related pathogenesis and excessive destruction of tissues.

For this Special Issue, we invite the submission of original research papers and review articles spanning the entire spectrum of cellular antiherpes viral mechanisms in different animal species from both the virus and host perspectives. Also welcome are articles that present strategies for future antiviral development considering the complexity of host–virus interactions and usefulness of existing treatments targeting apoptosis and autophagy.

Dr. Malgorzata Krzyzowska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• herpesviruses
• apoptosis
• autophagy
• latency
• pathogenesis