Now, with a little googling, I learn the following things: "Most viruses encode proteins that can inhibit apoptosis" There is actually already cellular machin

Now, with a little googling, I learn the following things: "Most viruses encode proteins that can inhibit apoptosis" There is actually already cellular machinery for triggering apoptosis when a cell is infected with a virus Some viruses induce apoptosis themselves, to their own benefit. When the cell falls apart during apoptosis, the virus ends up packaged with bits of the host cell, which stops the immune system from responding to it! http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10547702 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10547702 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoptosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoptosis EDIT: here is an article that gives a sense of just how complicated this all is, and how much existing machinery in cells and viruses target it: http://www.nature.com/cdd/journal/v8/n2/full/4400820a.html http://www.nature.com/cdd/journal/v8/n2/full/4400820a.html