Cellular Signaling and Innate Immune Responses to RNA Virus Infections

Infections by RNA viruses represent a significant cause of illness and death in vertebrates. Specifically in humans, RNA virus infections are responsible for a spectrum of significant acute, chronic, and emerging infections. This volume provides a comprehensive survey of the most recent discoveries in this field, suggests important areas of future research, and highlights issues in need of further investigation. With chapters written by many of the world’s leading investigators, this volume represents a landmark publication in this field for researchers and clinicians.


This volume is arranged around the belief that a careful examination of the early host responses to these RNA virus infections, as well as of the mechanisms adopted by these viruses to evade host antiviral responses, will provide a platform of knowledge that will lead to the development of more effective methods for controlling the spread of RNA viruses or modifying their disease course.



Divided into two major sections, this volume synthesizes recent findings in this fast-moving field while also reviewing accepted knowledge. The first part focuses on the antiviral signaling pathways in the host, including specific pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and how these cellular alarms signal the innate immune response. The second section examines the ways in which specific major RNA virus families interact with, activate, and elude these signaling pathways and responses. Taken together, this volume provides a timely summary of the latest knowledge and points to areas for further research.