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Updated: Mar 26, 2026

Dissecting Innate Immune Signaling in Viral Evasion of Cytokine Production
Published on: March 2, 2014
The cGAS-STING Defense Pathway and Its Counteraction by Viruses
1Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Abstract:
Upon virus infection, host cells mount a concerted innate immune response involving type I interferon and pro-inflammatory cytokines to enable elimination of the pathogen. Recently, cGAS and STING have been identified as intracellular sensors that activate the interferon pathway in response to virus infection and thus mediate host defense against a range of DNA and RNA viruses. Here we review how viruses are sensed by the cGAS-STING signaling pathway as well as how viruses modulate this pathway. Mechanisms utilized by viral proteins to inhibit cGAS and/or STING are also discussed. On the flip side, host cells have also evolved strategies to thwart viral immune escape. The balance between host immune control and viral immune evasion is pivotal to viral pathogenesis, and we discuss this virus-host stand-off in the context of the cGAS-STING innate immune pathway.
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