| Literature DB >> 10706717 |
T L Born1, L A Morrison, D J Esteban, T VandenBos, L G Thebeau, N Chen, M K Spriggs, J E Sims, R M Buller.
Abstract
IL-18 induces IFN-gamma and NK cell cytotoxicity, making it a logical target for viral antagonism of host defense. We demonstrate that the ectromelia poxvirus p13 protein, bearing homology to the mammalian IL-18 binding protein, binds IL-18, and inhibits its activity in vitro. Binding of IL-18 to the viral p13 protein was compared with binding to the cellular IL-18R. The dissociation constant of p13 for murine IL-18 is 5 nM, compared with 0.2 nM for the cellular receptor heterodimer. Mice infected with a p13 deletion mutant of ectromelia virus had elevated cytotoxicity for YAC-1 tumor cell targets compared with control animals. Additionally, the p13 deletion mutant virus exhibited decreased levels of infectivity. Our data suggest that inactivation of IL-18, and subsequent impairment of NK cell cytotoxicity, may be one mechanism by which ectromelia evades the host immune response.Entities:
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Year: 2000 PMID： 10706717 DOI： 10.4049/jimmunol.164.6.3246
Source DB: PubMed Journal: J Immunol ISSN： 0022-1767 Impact factor: 5.422