viruses

Mechanisms of airborne transmissionThe COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted controversies and unknowns about how respiratory pathogens spread between hosts. Traditionally, it was thought that respiratory pathogens spread between people through…

Oncolytic viruses can selectively infect cancer cells to stimulate cell death and antiviral and antitumor immune responses. Fares et al. report a phase 1 trial in patients with high-grade glioma treated with an engineered oncolytic…

An antiviral Dicer defends stem cellsStem cells have a pivotal role in maintaining tissue architecture, integrity, and renewal. Poirier et al. demonstrate that mammalian stem cells can protect themselves from some RNA viruses by expressing…

SummaryMammalian stem cells exhibit deficiencies in innate immunity regulated by interferons (IFNs), so they rely on constitutive expression of some IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) (1) and Argonaute 2 (AGO2)–dependent RNA interference (RNAi)…