NF90 isoforms, a new family of cellular proteins involved in viral replication?

The Nuclear Factor 90 (NF90) and its isoforms constitute a family of proteins that can interact with double-stranded (ds) RNA, through its dsRNA binding motifs. Due to various potential translational events such as alternative splicing, the human Interleukin enhancer binding factor 3 (ilf3) gene codes for multifunctional proteins that are NF90 and its isoforms, involved in transcription, translation, mRNA export and microRNA biogenesis. These proteins can act as cellular partners affecting viral replication and they are also implicated in host defense. As a result of these numerous functions, these protein isoforms have been given various names over the years, leading to confusion in determining their specific functions. In this review we focus on the role of the human NF90 protein isoforms in DNA and RNA virus replication.