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Updated: Aug 3, 2026

Use of Interferon-γ Enzyme-linked Immunospot Assay to Characterize Novel T-cell Epitopes of Human Papillomavirus
Published on: March 8, 2012
Viral IL-6-induced cell proliferation and immune evasion of interferon activity
Malini Chatterjee1, Julie Osborne, Giovanna Bestetti
1Department of Pathology, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Abstract:
Lymphoma cells infected with Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus are autocrine dependent on virus-derived interleukin-6 (IL-6), but not on cellular IL-6. During viral infection, host cells induce the antiviral factor interferon (IFN) to up-regulate p21, initiate cell cycle arrest, and inhibit virus replication. Viral IL-6, however, blocks IFN signaling. A viral transcriptional program exists in which only the viral IL-6 gene is directly activated by IFN-alpha, allowing the virus to modify its cellular environment by sensing and responding to levels of intracellular IFN signaling. The human cytokine cannot mimic this effect because IFN-alpha down-regulates the IL-6 receptor, gp80. Viral IL-6 bypasses the gp80 regulatory checkpoint by binding directly to the gp130 transducer molecule, resulting in tumor cell autocrine dependence on the viral cytokine for proliferation and survival.
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