Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Institute for Virus Research, and Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
Rev Med Virol. 2010 Jan;20(1):4-22. doi: 10.1002/rmv.633.
Viral infections are detected by sensor molecules, which initiate innate antiviral responses, including the activation of type I interferons (IFNs) and proinflammatory cytokines. These cytokines are responsible for not only inhibiting viral replication in infected cells but also regulating the induction of adaptive immunity, leading to the swift eradication of viruses. Recent advances in the identification of pathogen receptors in the innate immune system have revealed that distinct types of sensors play a role in the detection of viral nucleic acids in different ways; Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which detect viral DNA or RNA in endosomal compartments in immune cells, retinoic acid inducible gene-I (RIG-I)-like receptors (RLRs), which recognise viral RNA in the cytoplasm, and DNA sensors, which detect cytoplasmic viral DNA. Since these sensors have to exclusively recognise viral infections, it is intriguing to understand how they distinguish self nucleic acids from foreign viral ones. Here, we review the current knowledge of the recognition of viral nucleic acids by these sensor molecules and the signal transduction machinery.
病毒感染可被传感器分子检测到，这些传感器分子会引发先天抗病毒反应，包括 I 型干扰素（IFN）和促炎细胞因子的激活。这些细胞因子不仅能抑制感染细胞中的病毒复制，还能调节适应性免疫的诱导，从而迅速消灭病毒。最近在先天免疫系统中病原体受体的鉴定方面取得了进展，揭示了不同类型的传感器以不同的方式在检测病毒核酸方面发挥作用；Toll 样受体（TLR）在免疫细胞的内体区室中检测病毒 DNA 或 RNA，视黄酸诱导基因-I（RIG-I）样受体（RLR）在细胞质中识别病毒 RNA，以及 DNA 传感器，它们在细胞质中检测病毒 DNA。由于这些传感器必须专门识别病毒感染，因此了解它们如何区分自身核酸和外来病毒核酸非常有趣。在这里，我们综述了这些传感器分子识别病毒核酸的最新知识，以及信号转导机制。
