Roles of LncRNAs in Viral Infections

Liu, Weiwei; Ding, Chan

Two nuclear, highly structured and abundant viral transcripts EBER1 (167 nt) and EBER2 (172 nt) in latently EBV-infected cells are produced by EBV (Iwakiri, 2016) . EBER are polyadenylated, ncRNAs that are transcribed by RNA polymerase III (pol III) (Iwakiri, 2016) . EBERs play key roles in antiviral innate immunity via interaction with cellular proteins (Iwakiri and Takada, 2010) . EBERs are recognized by RIG-I and activate its downstream signaling to induce expression of type-I IFNs in EBV-infected cells (Samanta et al., 2006) . Furthermore, EBERs induce IL-10 expression through IRF3, but not NF-κB activation, in BL (Burkitt's lymphoma) cells, suggesting that EBER acts as an autocrine growth factor in BL cells (Kitagawa et al., 2000; Samanta et al., 2008) . In addition, EBER also contributes to oncogenesis . For example, in BL, EBERs counteract IFN-α-induced apoptosis via binding to PKR and inhibition of its phosphorylation .