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Upon infection of its host, human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) expresses a miRNA that directly down-regulates expression of an immunorelated gene, MICB. Thus, it appears that HCMV has developed two distinct mechanisms to down-regulate expression of the same immunorelated gene, with the RNA-based strategy presumably being more ancient.
--Sabine Müller
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität, Germany
S. Rakoff-Nahoum, et al., "Regulation of spontaneous intestinal tumorigenesis through the adaptor protein MyD88," Science, 317:124-7, July 6, 2007.
In the absence of MyD88, APCMin/+ mice are less susceptible to developing intestinal cancers. Interestingly, MyD88 signaling does not influence the formation of early neoplastic lesions but is involved in tumor growth and progression.
--Maria Rescigno
European Institute of Oncology, Italy
J.L. Rinn, et al., "Functional demarcation of active and silent chromatin domains in human HOX loci by noncoding RNAs," Cell...