Review articleMicroRNA 155 and viral-induced neuroinflammation

- MicroRNAs can silence the expression of target genes.
- MicroRNA 155 is important for immune cell homeostasis and effector functions.
- MicroRNA 155 regulates many aspects of immune responses to viral infections of CNS.

MicroRNA (miRNA) regulation of gene expression is becoming an increasingly recognized mechanism by which host immune responses are governed following microbial infection. miRNAs are short, non-coding RNAs that repress translation of target genes, and have been implicated in a number of activities that modulate host immune responses, including the regulation of immune cell proliferation, survival, expansion, differentiation, migration, polarization, and effector function. This review highlights several examples in which mammalian-encoded miR-155 influences immune responses following viral infection of the CNS.