Figure 3.

Viral miRNAs affect the pathways involved in the carcinogenesis of host cells. The picture depicts changes to cellular fate because of viral miRNAs. Genomic instability due to viral infection can induce activation of the p53 pathway, which in turn supports both DNA damage responses and cell cycle arrest. In relation to viral infection context, viral miRNAs can affect abortive cell fates such as programmed cell death with consequent cancer transformation. Arrows signify that the factor or process promotes the effect it points to, while blocking arrows signify inhibition. Orange ellipses represent viral proteins, grey ellipses represent host cell proteins, green boxes represent stages of the lytic phase of viral life cycle and blue boxes represent cellular processes affected by viral miRNAs during the viral latent phase.