EIF4E and viral infectious disease: Inhibition of host protein synthesis during viral infection is usually caused by cleavage and partial loss of activity of the eIF4G scaffolding protein (14–16), 4E-BP dephosphorylation resulting in sequestration of eIF4E in the eIF4E-4E-BP complex (17, 18) and/or cleavage of poly(A)-binding protein (PABP) (19, 20), which binds the poly(A) tail of the mRNA and eIF4G and facilitates initiation via circularization of the mRNA (1, 20).