title: IFN-alpha expression and antiviral effects are subtype and cell type specific in the cardiac response to viral infection.
abstract: The interferon-beta (IFN-beta) response is critical for protection against viral myocarditis in several mouse models, and IFN-alpha or -beta treatment is beneficial against human viral myocarditis. The IFN-beta response in cardiac myocytes and cardiac fibroblasts forms an integrated network for organ protection; however, the different IFN-alpha subtypes have not been studied in cardiac cells. We developed a quantitative RT-PCR assay that distinguishes between 13 highly conserved IFN-alpha subtypes and found that reovirus T3D induces five IFN-alpha subtypes in primary cardiac myocyte and fibroblast cultures: IFN-alpha1, -alpha2, -alpha4, -alpha5, and -alpha8/6. Murine IFN-alpha1, -alpha2, -alpha4, or -alpha5 treatment induced IRF7 and ISG56 and inhibited reovirus T3D replication in both cell types. This first investigation of IFN-alpha subtypes in cardiac cells for any virus demonstrates that IFN-alpha is induced in cardiac cells, that it is both subtype and cell type specific, and that it is likely important in the antiviral cardiac response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA.
authors.forename: Lianna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sherry
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: C522693:ISG56 protein, mouse; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D014157:Transcription Factors