• Berkhout Ben
• Haasnoot Joost

FEBS letters

• Publish Date: May 2006
• ISSN: 0014-5793
• Volume: 580
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 2896-902
• Medium: Print
• Language: English
• Citation (JAMA): Berkhout Ben, Haasnoot Joost, et al. The Interplay Between Virus Infection and the Cellular Rna Interference Machinery.. FEBS Lett. May 2006;580:2896-902

Abstract

RNA interference (RNAi) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of gene expression to control cell development and differentiation. In plants, insects and nematodes RNAi also functions as an innate defence response against viruses. Similarly, there is accumulating evidence that RNAi functions as an antiviral defence mechanism in mammalian cells. Viruses have evolved highly sophisticated mechanisms for interacting with the host cell machinery, and recent evidence indicates that this also involves RNAi pathways. The cellular RNAi machinery can inhibit virus replication, but viruses may also exploit the RNAi machinery for their own replication. In addition, viruses can encode proteins or RNA molecules that suppress existing RNAi pathways or trigger the silencing of specific host genes. Besides the natural interplay between RNAi and viruses, induced RNAi provides an attractive therapy approach for the fight against human pathogenic viruses. Here, we summarize the latest news on virus-RNAi interactions and RNAi based antiviral therapy.

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The data herein was last updated on July 8th, 2008 and may not reflect the most current and accurate data available from NLM.