Besides the skin, the digestive tract is the tissue that is most exposed to environmental influences such as bacteria and viruses. Therefore, cells that form these barriers to the interior of the body also have special defence mechanisms. A research team led by Professor Dr Thorsten Hoppe has now shown that RNA interference, or RNAi for short, which is known to be a viral defence mechanism, also prevents the overproduction of the body's own proteins in intestinal cells. The study 'ER-Associated RNA Silencing Promotes ER Quality Control' has been published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
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