The sudden emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has boosted research
on innate immune responses to coronaviruses. It is now well established that the causative
agent, a newly identified coronavirus termed SARS-CoV, employs multiple passive and
active mechanisms to avoid induction of the antiviral type I interferons in tissue cells. By
contrast, chemokines such as IP-10 or IL-8 are strongly upregulated. The imbalance in the
IFN response is thought to contribute to the establishment of viremia early in infection …