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Protective role for interferon-beta in coxsackievirus B3 infection
Raj Deonarain1, Dante Cerullo, Koichi Fuse
1Toronto General Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Background:
Coxsackievirus-induced myocarditis can be a serious cause of heart failure. In the absence of a specific antiviral therapy, modulating the host immune response may be protective. Interferons (IFNs)-alpha and -beta perform a fundamental role in innate and adaptive antiviral responses, thereby presenting as candidate therapeutics for coxsackievirus infections.
Methods And Results:
To examine the contribution of IFN-beta in protection from coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) infection, mice lacking the IFN-beta gene were infected with 10(3) plaque-forming units of CVB3. In contrast to wild-type mice that exhibit an intact IFN-beta response, we observed increased susceptibility to infection (70% mortality), a downregulation of IFN-stimulated gene targets (2'-5' oligoadenylate synthetase, serine/threonine protein kinase, the GTPase Mx), and cardiomyocyte breakdown and disruption in the IFN-beta-/- mice.
Conclusions:
Viewed together, these results clearly demonstrate that IFN-beta is important in mediating protection against CVB3-induced myocarditis.
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