Granular Insights on Innate and Intrinsic Immunity to Flaviviruses

Interaction between pathogenic human RNA viruses and host stress granules is an active area of research. Understanding how viruses manipulate, evade, and/or parasitize stress granules and related assemblies may lead to novel approaches for therapeutic and vaccine development. However, knowledge gaps remain, and the field is laden with conflicting conclusions. Stress granules have been implicated to serve as hubs for antiviral signaling pathways, thereby serving to indirectly restrict virus infection through enhancing innate immune responses. More recent evidence suggests that stress granules can exert intrinsic anti-viral properties through direct sequestration of viral RNAs without impacting immune signaling. Here we critically review the literature relevant to specific members of the Flaviviridae with particular focus on Zika virus.