ReviewNature2021
Lessons from the host defences of bats, a unique viral reservoir.
Review in Nature, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 254 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
254 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 414 citations in OpenAlex.
- The viral tick talks: how vectors and wildlife shape Kyasanur forest disease ecology.Archives of virology · 2026Pooled it
- Diversity and transmission and zoonotic potential of microbes in true insectivores.Nature communications · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in free-ranging wild mammals.BMC veterinary research · 2025Pooled it
- Viral Co-Infection in Bats: A Systematic Review.Viruses · 2023Pooled it
- Molecular pathogenesis, global epidemiological trends, and treatment strategies for pteropine orthoreoviruses: a narrative review.Emerging microbes & infections · 2026Review
- Serological and transcriptomic response of African fruit bats to immune challenge with recombinant vaccines expressing Ebola or Nipah virus antigens.Royal Society open science · 2026Article
- Article
- Suidae iPSC-derived macrophages as models for investigating susceptibility and resilience to African swine fever virus.Stem cell reports · 2026Article
- Dynamic Atlas and Energy Metabolism Adaptation of the Liver Proteome During a 24 h Cycle inBiomolecules · 2026Article
- One Health Insights From Pteropus medius: Nipah Virus Spillover, Microbiota, and Antimicrobial Resistance.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Review
- The raphe nuclear organization and serotonergic system in the bat (Artibeus planirostris).Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- Japanese Encephalitis Virus and Host Innate Immunity: Insights Into TLR Signaling, PRR Crosstalk, and Viral Immune Evasion.Cell biochemistry and function · 2026Review
- Neotropical bats as sentinels for emerging zoonoses in Central America: A case study identifying Trypanosoma cruzi in bats from Belize using metagenomic next-generation sequencing.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Insectivores exhibit superior microbial network connectivity and elevated zoonotic risk by 2035 relative to rodents and bats.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Article
- Molecular Characterization of HemotropicPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A dual role for cGAS in shaping cellular and organismal responses to genomic instability.Genes & development · 2026Article
- An ancient retrotransposon provides species-specific tuning of IL-18 inflammatory signaling.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Bat-Inspired Longevity: Immune Damage Management and Nutritional Modulation for Healthy Aging.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Review
- Exon Targeted Retrieval and Classification Toolbox (ExTRaCT): a gene search pipeline to find APOBEC3 Z-domains in novel bat genomes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
194 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There have been several major outbreaks of emerging viral diseases, including Hendra, Nipah, Marburg and Ebola virus diseases, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-as well as the current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Notably, all of these outbreaks have been linked to suspected zoonotic transmission of bat-borne viruses. Bats-the only flying mammal-display several additional features that are unique among mammals, such as a long lifespan relative to body size, a low rate of tumorigenesis and an exceptional ability to host viruses without presenting clinical disease. Here we discuss the mechanisms that underpin the host defence system and immune tolerance of bats, and their ramifications for human health and disease. Recent studies suggest that 64 million years of adaptive evolution have shaped the host defence system of bats to balance defence and tolerance, which has resulted in a unique ability to act as an ideal reservoir host for viruses. Lessons from the effective host defence of bats would help us to better understand viral evolution and to better predict, prevent and control future viral spillovers. Studying the mechanisms of immune tolerance in bats could lead to new approaches to improving human health. We strongly believe that it is time to focus on bats in research for the benefit of both bats and humankind.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.