Double-stranded RNA is recognized as an invader by the innate immune system, triggering an immediate response including the activation of five PARP superfamily members.

“So um just to bring everybody up to the the same speed um your your immune system has two parts. One is your innate immune system that can tell that doublestranded RNA is a problem because the human body just gen generally doesn't make doublestranded RNA right and the human body doesn't make endotoxin. So cells don't have to wait for antibodies to come along that are very specific for doublestranded RNA or endotoxin. They recognize doublest stranded RNA and endotoxin as a foreign invader and they do something immediate early to um to respond. And it turns out that one of the things that our cells are programmed to do is turn on five members of the PARP super family.”