NiV VLP-induced activation of genes involved in signaling innate immune response A PCR array format (SABiosciences) was used to investigate modulation in transcription profile of 84 genes involved in innate immune responses to include TLR signaling family and members of the downstream signaling pathways, NFKB, NF/IL6, IRF and JNKp38. These genes represent key sensors of non-self that signal, and ultimately shape the nature of innate immune response that modulates the type and duration of adaptive immune responses [66, 67] . The differential expression of genes in VLP-exposed 293 cells relative to the ''mock'' infected 293 cells was measured by real-time PCR. Same concentration of total cell RNA from the VLP-stimulated and the ''mock'' stimulated control cells were used for first strand synthesis and Sybr green PCR amplification of the relevant genes as described under Methods. The integrity of RNA in each sample was confirmed by gel electrophoresis (Figure 6A ). Data representing the differential transcription profile of VLP exposed vs. ''mock'' stimulated cells is shown as a heat map ( Figure 6B) . A 4-fold cutoff threshold was used to determine modulation in gene expression. We noted significant VLP-stimulated up-regulation (89 fold and 7 fold) in the expression of NFKB2 and TBK1 genes respectively. Close to four fold (3.9 fold) up-regulation was noted also in IL-8 and MAPK8 genes. NFKB2 and IL-8 are target genes in the downstream NFKB pathway, and TBK1 which are in the IRF and JNK/p38 pathways respectively.