cTAZ : a safeguard factor of antiviral response

The antiviral response is a tightly regulated process that follows specific patterns of timing and duration. The type I interferon‐induced antiviral pathway is driven by JAK ‐ STAT signalling. This is characterized by the dimerization of the receptor upon ligand binding, inducing cytoplasmic protein–protein interactions between phosphorylated STAT 1 and STAT 2, dimerization and nuclear translocation, which leads to the formation of a trimeric transcriptional competent complex, followed by INF ‐inducible gene expression. Aberrant activation and timing of JAK ‐ STAT signalling might result in autoimmune disease. This implies that the strict regulation of this signalling pathway is essential to prevent pathological consequences. In this issue of EMBO Reports , Fang et al [1] describe an alternative variant of TAZ , called cTAZ , which fine‐tunes JAK ‐ STAT signalling, thereby contributing to the tight control of antiviral responses.