RNA PAMPs as molecular tools for evaluating RIG-I function in innate immunity

Pathogen recognition receptors (PRR)s and their cognate pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) represent the basis of innate immune activation and immune response induction driven by the host-pathogen interaction that occurs during microbial infection in humans and other animals. For RNA virus infection such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) and others, specific motifs within viral RNA mark it as nonself and visible to the host as a PAMP through interaction with RIG-I-like receptors including retinoic inducible gene-I (RIG-I). Here, we present methods for producing and using HCV PAMP RNA as a molecular tool to study RIG-I and its signaling pathway, both in vitro and in vivo, in innate immune regulation.