多数病毒家族利用胞吞作为入侵宿主细胞的途径。胞吞既可以介导病毒内化, 也可以将病毒运输到复制位点。已知的胞吞途径包括: 网格蛋白依赖型内吞、小窝蛋白依赖型内吞、巨胞饮和网格蛋白、小窝蛋白非依赖型内吞。随着对胞吞过程中各组分结构和功能了解的日趋深入, 研究胞吞过程以及病毒入侵过程的手段也变得更有效, 特异性更高。目前, 化学抑制剂的使用仍十分普遍, 但该方法常非特异性地阻断细胞某些功能。一些分子抑制方法, 如过表达显性负突变体和siRNA技术等, 因其对单一途径的特异性阻断, 使得应用分子型抑制剂逐渐取代了化学抑制剂。本文主要分析了研究病毒入侵途径时所使用的实验方法, 并列举了一些实例。

Numerous virus families utilize endocytosis to infect host cells, mediating virus internalization as well as traf?cking to the site of replication. The endocytic pathways utilized include clathrin-mediated endocytosis, caveolae, macropinocytosis and non-clathrin, non-caveolae pathways. The tools to study endocytosis and, consequently, virus entry are becoming more effective and speci?c as the amount of information on endocytic component structure and function increases. Now, the use of inhibitory drugs, although still quite common, often leads to non-speci?c disruptions in the cell. Molecular inhibitors in the form of domi-nant–negative proteins and siRNA have surpassed the use of chemical inhibitors in terms of speci?city to in-dividual pathways. This review focuses on the experimental approaches taken to examine virus entry and provides some examples on a variety of virus families.