title: Small RNAs growing tall: miRNAs as drug targets in herpesvirus infections.
abstract: Herpesviruses establish life-long latent infections. They can cause severe morbidity and significant mortality particularly in immunocompromised hosts. Several are associated with cancers. Most express large amounts of microRNAs during latent or lytic infection. There is increasing evidence that these small RNA molecules play important roles in many aspects of pathogenesis, including lytic and latent infections, immune evasion and tumorigenesis. Therapies targeting microRNAs have already successfully made it into clinics, for example, to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In this review, we will focus on regulatory functions of herpesvirus miRNAs that may be suitable for antiviral intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: L'Hernault
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK; Institute of Virology and Immunobiology, University of Würzburg, Germany. Electronic address: lars.doelken@uni-wuerzburg.de.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dölken
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D035683:MicroRNAs; D012367:RNA, Viral