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Comment
. 2019 May 2;177(4):797-799.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.04.020.

Circle the Wagons: Circular RNAs Control Innate Immunity

Jeremy E Wilusz  1
Affiliations
Comment

Circle the Wagons: Circular RNAs Control Innate Immunity

Jeremy E Wilusz. Cell. .

Abstract

Circular RNAs are generated at low levels from many protein-coding genes. Liu et al. now reveal that many of these transcripts bind and inhibit the double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-dependent kinase PKR. Upon viral infection, circular RNAs are globally degraded to release PKR, which becomes activated to aid in the immune response.

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Conflict of interest statement

J.E.W. is a consultant for VL50, Inc.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Circular RNAs Can Collectively Modulate Innate Immune Responses A pre-mRNA can be spliced to generate a linear mRNA or a circular RNA. In normal uninfected cells, many circular RNAs act as a group to bind and inhibit activity of the PKR kinase (1). Upon viral infection (2), pathogenic double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) can be produced that lead to activation of RNase L (3), which endonucleolytically cleaves circular RNAs. This releases PKR (4) which can then bind the pathogenic dsRNAs and become activated (5) to inhibit the viral infection (6).
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References

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