Resistance to influenza virus infection of Mx transgenic mice expressing Mx protein under the control of two constitutive promoters.

Transgenic mice constitutively expressing in the brain the influenza virus resistance protein Mx1 controlled by the HMG (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase) promoter showed specific resistance against the neurotropic influenza A virus strain NWS. Control mice of the A2G strain express Mx1 protein in all organs, but only after induction by interferon type I upon or without viral infection. The extent of specific resistance in transgenic mice of the best-expressing line reached about two-thirds that of controls, most likely because of considerably less total-body Mx protein activity in the transgenic mice. Thus, the theoretical advantage in these mice of the continuous presence of Mx protein with early inhibitory potential to viral replication was apparently offset by restricted organ expression. Strong evidence that the Mx1 protein on its own is a specific anti-influenza A virus agent and that its efficiency in the experimental setting is independent of interferon actions could be derived from the treatment of experimental and control mice with anti-interferon antibodies at the time of virus tests. Whereas in A2G mice, Mx1 mRNA and Mx1 protein synthesis were abolished and viral resistance was markedly reduced or abolished, resistance in the transgenic mice persisted to almost the same degree. Transgenic mice generated with a mouse albumin/Mx1 cDNA construct showed liver-specific expression. However, in two expressing transgenic lines, Mx1 protein synthesis was suppressed after a few months. The mechanism of suppression could not be elucidated, but increasing methylation of the transgene's coding region was not the cause. It is possible that continuous Mx1 protein expression in the liver is less well tolerated than that in the brain. Whether this partial suppression and, with the HMG promoter, restricted organ expression are the organism's responses to interference of Mx1 with normal cellular activities such as nucleocytoplasmic transport of RNA and proteins cannot be determined until the molecular mechanisms of antiviral activity of Mx1 protein are understood.