Innate Antiviral Responses by Means of TLR7-Mediated Recognition of Single-Stranded RNA

2004/02/23 by Sandra S. Diebold, Tsuneyasu Kaisho, Hiroaki Hemmi +2 · 6 citations
Immunology and Microbiology · Medicine · #Immune Response and Inflammation #interferon and immune responses #Influenza Virus Research Studies

paper · doi:10.1126/science.1093616

openalex publication_date 2004/02/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Interferons (IFNs) are critical for protection from viral infection, but the pathways linking virus recognition to IFN induction remain poorly understood. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells produce vast amounts of IFN-alpha in response to the wild-type influenza virus. Here, we show that this requires endosomal recognition of influenza genomic RNA and signaling by means of Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) and MyD88. Single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) molecules of nonviral origin also induce TLR7-dependent production of inflammatory cytokines. These results identify ssRNA as a ligand for TLR7 and suggest that cells of the innate immune system sense endosomal ssRNA to detect infection by RNA viruses.

Citations

• Cross‐presentation of cell‐associated antigens by CD8α+ dendritic cells is attributable to their ability to internalize dead cells

Cited by

• The RNA helicase RIG-I has an essential function in double-stranded RNA-induced innate antiviral responses
• Suppression of RNA Recognition by Toll-like Receptors: The Impact of Nucleoside Modification and the Evolutionary Origin of RNA
• Innate Immune Suppression Enables Frequent Transfection with RNA Encoding Reprogramming Proteins
• 5′-triphosphate RNA requires base-paired structures to activate antiviral signaling via RIG-I
• Intranodal Vaccination with Naked Antigen-Encoding RNA Elicits Potent Prophylactic and Therapeutic Antitumoral Immunity
• Transfection [wikipedia]