Open AccessSystems biology unravels interferon responses to respiratory virus infections
Author(s) -
Andrea Kroeker,
Kevin M. Coombs
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
world journal of biological chemistry
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1949-8454
DOI - 10.4331/wjbc.v5.i1.12
Subject(s) - interferon , immune system , viral replication , virus , biology , immunology , signalling pathways , virology , medicine , computational biology , signal transduction , microbiology and biotechnology
Interferon production is an important defence against viral replication and its activation is an attractive therapeutic target. However, it has long been known that viruses perpetually evolve a multitude of strategies to evade these host immune responses. In recent years there has been an explosion of information on virus-induced alterations of the host immune response that have resulted from data-rich omics technologies. Unravelling how these systems interact and determining the overall outcome of the host response to viral infection will play an important role in future treatment and vaccine development. In this review we focus primarily on the interferon pathway and its regulation as well as mechanisms by which respiratory RNA viruses interfere with its signalling capacity.