What determines a virus's tissue tropism?

Answer 1

What cellular receptors that reacts with the viruses surface proteins which in turn can facilitate internalization to the cell usually determines the tissue tropism. This is a biological principle which occurs for example with most of the bodys hormones. The main thought here is that the viral surface proteins is like a key, and the cell kan have many kinds of different locks which may open the door to the cell.

Once inside the cell, the virus must also avoid setting off the cells "alarm system" which may cause apoptosis (programmed cell death) or trigger the immune system which ends up getting the cell, and the virus contained.

If a virus can get into the cell and also not get discovered, its likely to establish an infection in this cell. There are of course exceptions to what is mentioned above, and different strategies of infection making it hard to define, but the main principle remains the same.

Answer 2

A virus's tissue tropism is determined by the specific proteins on the surface of the virus that are able to bind to receptors on the surface of host cells in a particular tissue. Additionally, cellular factors and host immune responses play a role in determining which tissues a virus can infect and replicate in. Some viruses may have a broad tissue tropism, while others may be more restricted in the types of cells they can infect.