Human- and virus-encoded microRNAs as potential targets of antiviral therapy.

It has recently been demonstrated that short RNA molecules, called microRNAs, are one of the major factors regulating the expression of human genes. There are several lines of evidence that microRNAs also play a key role in host-virus interactions. It is believed that both human- and virus-encoded miRNA will, in the nearest future, become very attractive targets of antiviral therapy.