EIF2AK2 and viral infectious disease: Activated PKR catalyzes the phosphorylation of the regulatory α-subunit of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2α; Meurs et al., 1992; Clemens and Elia, 1997), consequently blocking the initiation of mRNA translation, which results in the global arrest of both cellular and viral protein synthesis and can lead to apoptosis in response to virus infection (Balachandran et al., 1998).