Figure 1

Pathway Protection Loop. Pathway Protection Loop (solid lines indicate active interactions; dashed lines indicate inhibited effects): 1) an activated pathway is host of one or more intragenic miRNAs that are therefore co-expressed with the pathway; 2) the pathway miRNAs target one or more PATF; 3) the down-regulated PATFs down-regulate the corresponding PAGs; 4) the down-regulated PAGs are not able to express the Antagonist miRNAs; 5) the down-regulation of the pathway genes by the Antagonist miRNAs is prevented.