Regulation of influenza virus infection by long non-coding RNAs

Long non-coding RNA is a class of RNA molecules in which transcripts are longer than 200 nt, involved in the biological activities such as pre-transcriptional regulation, transcriptional regulation, and post-transcriptional regulation. The influenza viruses have a wide host spectrum and can infect animals such as humans, poultry, horses, and swine. Through its significant interaction with its hosts, these viruses have stirred up numerous worldwide pandemics and have caused serious threats to human health, as well as the industry of livestock and poultry. Recent studies have demonstrated that the infection of influenza viruses can also induce the production of a large number of lncRNAs in the host. These lncRNAs can interact with a variety of biological macromolecules and directly or indirectly play critical regulatory roles in the host’s antiviral pathway or in the replication of influenza virus. This has made it necessary and meaningful to study and reveal the roles of these lncRNAs with respect to the infection and replication of influenza viruses in order to elucidate the pathogenesis mechanism of influenza virus. In view of the above, this paper presents a review of the behaviors of the lncRNAs, which are detrimental to the infection of influenza virus, to enhance our understanding of lncRNAs and provide more insight for the prevention and control of influenza.