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This volume has gathered some of the experts in the field to review aspects of our understanding of CMV and to offer perspectives of the current problems associated with CMV. The editors and authors hope that the chapters will lead to a better understanding of the virus that will assist in the development of new and unique antivirals, a protective vaccine, and a full understanding of CMV's involvement in human disease.

The Janeway's Immunobiology CD-ROM, Immunobiology Interactive, is included with each book, and can be purchased separately. It contains animations and videos with voiceover narration, as well as the figures from the text for presentation purposes.

Using different viral models, molecular pathways regulated by viral genes and their role in the pathogenesis of infection are analyzed. The book also offers an update of known signaling pathways in apoptosis and their role in normal and infected cells. Special emphasis is given to molecular pathways underlying viral transformation and oncogenesis and how research in this area is opening opportunities in cancer therapy.

Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death that enables the removal of damaged, infected, or otherwise unwanted cells in a controlled manner. Apoptosis can be initiated by multiple independent pathways that ultimately converge at a point where proteolytic enzymes belonging to the caspase family are activated, which dismantle the apoptotic cell. Multicellular organism have employed apoptotic mechanisms during host defence in response to viral infection to limit or prevent viral spread and replication. Consequently, viruses have evolved sophisticated molecular countermeasures to disarm host apoptotic defences, and this series of reviews and primary research articles in this Special Issue explores the intricate molecular interplay between viruses and their hosts when they battle for control of host apoptotic check-points.