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Viral sensors: diversity in pathogen recognition
Author(s) -
McCartney Stephen A.,
Colonna Marco
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
immunological reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.839
H-Index - 223
eISSN - 1600-065X
pISSN - 0105-2896
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-065x.2008.00726.x
Subject(s) - biology , function (biology) , pattern recognition receptor , receptor , innate immune system , viral infection , signal transduction , nucleic acid , microbiology and biotechnology , interferon , secretion , toll like receptor , computational biology , immunology , virus , genetics , biochemistry
Summary: Innate sensors of viral infection detect viral products and initiate the signal cascades that lead to the antiviral response. Several proteins have been identified to play a role in this process, mostly members of the Toll‐like receptor and retinoic acid‐inducible gene I‐like receptor families. These receptors have been demonstrated to function in part by recognizing a diverse yet unique repertoire of nucleic acid substrates. Upon recognition of their ligands, these sensors activate distinct signaling pathways that lead to the secretion of type I interferon and inflammatory cytokines. It remains to be seen, however, if these sensors are redundant or whether each serves a unique function. In this work, we review the current knowledge of viral sensors, speculate on how they may function in vivo , and explore the potential reasons for their diversity.