“…Some studies have reported that RNAi can impact antiviral immunity in mammals during influenza A virus, hepatitis C virus, Nodamura virus and, more recently, human enterovirus 71 infection (Wang et al , 2006; Matskevich & Moelling, 2007; Li et al , 2013, 2016; Maillard et al , 2013; Qiu et al , 2017). In contrast, others have found low abundance of viRNAs in mammalian somatic cells infected with various viruses, and only a modest effect of Dicer deficiency on viral replication, suggesting that RNAi is not an active mechanism of antiviral defence in most mammalian cell types (Parameswaran et al , 2010; Girardi et al , 2013; Backes et al , 2014; Bogerd et al , 2014; Schuster et al , 2017). RNAi may be particularly important in undifferentiated mammalian cells, and clear evidence of the existence of endogenous RNAi, dsRNA‐mediated RNAi (dsRNAi), or antiviral RNAi has been documented in oocytes, embryonic teratocarcinoma cell lines and mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), respectively (Billy et al , 2001; Flemr et al , 2013; Maillard et al , 2013).…”