op6

The innate intracellular immune response represents our first line of defense against microbial challenge and is essential for resistance to and control of virus infection. Innate immune defenses are triggered during virus infection when viral nucleic acid and/or replication intermediates are sensed by host pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), which trigger expression of type-1 interferon (IFN) and IFN stimulated genes (ISGs) that control infection. West Nile Virus (WNV) is an emerging infectious agent in Europe and North America that causes encephalitis and mortality during severe human infections. Pathogenic strains of WNV are able to regulate type-1 IFN signaling, resulting in regulation of a subset of ISGs. The goal of my project is to define the mechanism by which pathogenic WNV is able to antagonize the type-1 IFN response.