Over the past year, we have witnessed the discovery of further virus immuno
-evasins - proteins that alter the host immune response. Although many of t
hese factors have been described over the past decade, the structural basis
underlying their biology has lagged behind. Structural data have now been
obtained for several such proteins. Major advances of the past year include
the structures of a viral chemokine-binding protein, of an intact viral re
gulator of complement activation and of an immuno-evasin with its cellular
target.