A study from the Gantier lab (Hudson Institute/Monash University), published in Nature Immunology, reveals that naturally occurring 2′-O-methyl-guanosine RNA fragments act as potent antagonists of TLR7 and TLR8, binding a previously unknown site to keep the receptors in an inactive state.

Here, the authors show that 2’-O-methylated RNA fragments from ribosomal RNA naturally block TLR7 and TLR8, helping to avoid avoid harmful self-RNA detection and autoimmunity.

New hope for 20,000 Australians living with lupus 🧬   October is Lupus Awareness Month, and there's exciting progress in the fight against this debilitating autoimmune disease.   Researcher Michael Ga...

Gantier, Gearing and colleagues demonstrate, through analysis of small RNA sequencing data, that quantification of microRNA isoforms enables identification of accurate biomarker candidates overlooked in aggregated microRNA data. A ratio-based approach to isoform-level biomarker discovery is presented, measuring the relative abundance of alternate isoforms to provide internal normalisation within a microRNA.