Dean’s Seminar Series featuring Michaela Gack, PhD – “Antiviral innate immune defense mechanisms and viral escape”
***CME/CE Credit is being offered for this Seminar***
Speaker:
Michaela Gack, Ph.D.
The Arthur and Marylin Levitt Endowed Chair
Scientific Director
Florida Research & Innovation Center
Cleveland Clinic Florida
Title:
“Antiviral innate immune defense mechanisms and viral escape”
Abstract:
Accurate sensing of viral pathogens by innate immune sensor proteins is critical for mounting an effective antiviral response in both non-immune and immune cells. These sensors recognize conserved pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and subsequently activate signaling that results in the production of many antiviral molecules, including type I interferons (IFNs).
It has become evident that intracellular viral RNA sensors of the RIG-I-like receptor (RLR) family are important sensors for many RNA viruses including coronaviruses and influenza viruses. As a consequence, many RNA viruses manipulate the sensing and/or signaling activity of RLRs to escape detection by the immune surveillance apparatus. For example, our previous work demonstrated that influenza virus and measles virus manipulate specific posttranslational modifications – Lys63-linked ubiquitination and phosphorylation – of RLRs to evade innate immunity. We also have recently reported that dengue virus and related mosquito-transmitted flaviviruses inhibit the translocation of RLRs to mitochondria, impeding the interaction of RLRs with the adaptor protein MAVS.
Here I present our recent data revealing a novel mechanism of how IFN-mediated antiviral immunity is activated, and how viruses evade innate immune responses.