In most cases studied to date, the viral proteins target unique regulatory or effector components of the immune system. Accordingly, there are compelling reasons to predict that expressed variola proteins of this class will exhibit mediatory activities specifically against human immune pathways, only some of which are understood or possibly even as yet discovered.
Viral proteins are generally multifunctional.
A single viral protein expressed in transfected cells may have totally different functions than if expressed in productively infected cells. For example, the localization of herpes simplex virus ICP22 by itself is different from that of the same protein in infected cells. Live variola virus would be required to verify the function of viral proteins coded by the variola genome. Some aspects of variola protein synthesis could be accomplished using only cloned genes, while others would require expression by the live virus. The following sections address first, the kinds of strategies that could be used for synthesis of variola virus proteins, and second, the potential usage of these expressed proteins for the study of human immunology and for the development of novel drugs to treat human immune-based diseases.