Virology: MicroRNA-lipid one-upmanship

November 17th, 2015 by Patricia A Thibault

Nature Chemical Biology 11, 905 (2015). doi:10.1038/nchembio.1953

Authors: Patricia A Thibault & Joyce A Wilson

25-Hydroxycholesterol induces miR-185 to suppress lipid and cholesterol synthesis pathways and inhibit viruses such as hepatitis C virus (HCV), that use host membranes to propagate. HCV counteracts this by suppressing miR-185 expression to drive increased cellular lipid content.