The innate immune system is the first line of defense against invading pathogens. Activation of the innate immune signaling pathways is a highly complex process resulting in the induction of inflammatory gene expression that is central to anti-microbial defenses. Initiation of the response typically occurs at the level of pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) such as the Toll like receptors (TLRs), triggering a signaling cascade resulting in the activation of transcription factors such as NF?B and IRFs. Many factors are required to control these responses and in recent years it has been shown that noncoding RNA are major contributors to the control of gene expression within innate immunity.
Recent advances in sequencing technologies has enabled us to get a much greater view of the genome and surprisingly it appears that only 2% of the genome codes for protein while it is estimated that 85% of the genome gets transcribed. Much of this transcription results in the production of noncoding RNA including miRNA and the more recently described long noncoding RNA. Much work has been done to show that miRNA are key regulators of the innate immune system and this year alone there has been a number of key papers showing that long noncoding RNA are also essential mediators of the immune response. I propose to have a comprehensive specialist topic covering the roles that noncoding RNA play in innate immunity. I believe this is a field that is in its infancy, which is generating much excitement and this topic within Frontiers will be of much interest to all people involved in the study of innate immunity.
The innate immune system is the first line of defense against invading pathogens. Activation of the innate immune signaling pathways is a highly complex process resulting in the induction of inflammatory gene expression that is central to anti-microbial defenses. Initiation of the response typically occurs at the level of pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) such as the Toll like receptors (TLRs), triggering a signaling cascade resulting in the activation of transcription factors such as NF?B and IRFs. Many factors are required to control these responses and in recent years it has been shown that noncoding RNA are major contributors to the control of gene expression within innate immunity.
Recent advances in sequencing technologies has enabled us to get a much greater view of the genome and surprisingly it appears that only 2% of the genome codes for protein while it is estimated that 85% of the genome gets transcribed. Much of this transcription results in the production of noncoding RNA including miRNA and the more recently described long noncoding RNA. Much work has been done to show that miRNA are key regulators of the innate immune system and this year alone there has been a number of key papers showing that long noncoding RNA are also essential mediators of the immune response. I propose to have a comprehensive specialist topic covering the roles that noncoding RNA play in innate immunity. I believe this is a field that is in its infancy, which is generating much excitement and this topic within Frontiers will be of much interest to all people involved in the study of innate immunity.
