Innate immunity at mucosal surfaces: the IRE1-RIDD-RIG-I pathway

Recent studies have linked the ER stress sensor IRE1 alpha with the RIG-I pathway, which triggers an inflammatory response upon detection of viral RNAs. In response to ER dysfunction, IRE1 alpha cleaves mRNA into single-strand fragments that lack markers of self, which activate RIG-I. Certain microbial products from mucosal pathogens activate this pathway by binding IRE1 alpha directly, and the discovery that IRE1 is amplified at mucosal surfaces by gene duplication suggests an important role for IRE1 in mucosal immunity. Here, we review evidence in support of this hypothesis, and propose a model wherein IRE1 surveys the integrity of the ER, acting as a guard receptor and a pattern recognition receptor, capable both of sensing cellular stress caused by microbial infection and of responding to pathogens directly.