title: ISG15 facilitates cellular antiviral response to dengue and west nile virus infection in vitro.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dengue virus (DENV) and West Nile virus (WNV), close siblings of the Flaviviridae family, are the causative agents of Dengue hemorraghic shock or West Nile meningoencephalitis respectively. Vaccines against these two flaviviruses are currently unavailable. Interferon- Stimulated Gene 15 (ISG15), encoding an ubiquitin-like protein, is significantly induced by type I interferons or viral infections. Its roles in viral infections, however, vary with viruses, being either anti- or pro-viral. The exact roles of ISG15 in DENV and WNV infections remain unknown. In the current study, we evaluated the relevancies of ISG15 to DENV and WNV infection of a mouse macrophage cell line RAW264.7.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Quantitative PCR showed that mouse Isg15 was dramatically induced in DENV or WNV- infected RAW264.7 cells compared with non-infected cells. Isg15 and two other Jak-Stat related genes, Socs1 and Socs3, were silenced using siRNA mediated RNA interference. The intracellular DENV and WNV loads, as determined by quantitative PCR, were significantly higher in Isg15 silenced cells than control cells. The expression levels of interferon beta 1 (Ifnb1) were increased significantly in Isg15, Socs1 or Socs3 siRNA treated cells. Further investigation indicated that protein modification by ISG15, so called ISGylation, was significantly enhanced in DENV-infected cells compared to that in non-infected cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that ISG15 plays an anti-DENV/WNV function via protein ISGylation.
authors: Institute of Biology and Medical Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China. daijianfeng@suda.edu.cn
authors: Jianfeng
authors: J
authors: Dai
authors: Wen
authors: W
authors: Pan
authors: Penghua
authors: P
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000276:immunology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D051379:Mice; D014452:Ubiquitins / Q000276:immunology; D014779:Virus Replication; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; C489550:G1p2 protein, mouse; D014452:Ubiquitins