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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Arbovirus Infections As Screening Tools for the Identification of Viral Immunomodulators and Host Antiviral Factors
Published on: September 13, 2018
The use of RNAi-based screens to identify host proteins involved in viral replication
1Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, 505 NW 185th Avenue, Beaverton, OR 97006, USA. hirschal@ohsu.edu
Abstract:
The recent development of RNAi-based techniques for protein knockdown in mammalian cells has allowed for unprecedented flexibility in the study of protein function. Currently, large siRNA libraries are available that allow the knockdown of all proteins known to be encoded by the human genome. These libraries have been used to identify the host proteins required for the replication of several clinically important viruses, including HIV, flaviviruses and influenza. This review summarizes the methods used in RNAi-based screening for host factors involved in virus replication, and discusses published examples of such screens.
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