Lina Yi1, Yaqing He, Ying Chen, Hsiang-Fu Kung, Ming-Liang He. 1. Stanley Ho Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection can induce a series of syndromes including herpangina, viraemia, hand-foot-and-mouth disease and even death. Outbreaks of EV71 infection have been reported periodically over the world and have caused a great number of casualties and a high medical expenditure. Some interferons (IFNs) have been used for the treatment of viral infections for decades; however, conventional IFNs only display mild anti-EV71 activities. No effective drug is currently available for the treatment of EV71 infection. Here, we aimed to investigate whether some IFN subtypes display potent anti-EV71 activities. METHODS: The antiviral activities of 17 type I IFNs were assayed in Vero cells using the cytopathic effect method. Cells were incubated with different concentrations of type I IFNs before or after virus infection. Viral replication was determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The expression levels of IFN downstream antiviral genes were also measured by qRT-PCR. RESULTS: Out of 17 type I IFNs, 4 IFNs (IFN-α4, IFN-α6, IFN-α14 and IFN-α16) displayed potent antiviral activity. Compared with conventional IFN-α2a, IFN-α14 displayed approximately 20× higher antiviral activity. The superior antiviral effect of IFN-α14 was caused by a strong induction of the downstream antiviral effectors. CONCLUSIONS: IFN-α14 and three other IFNs could be considered for the treatment of EV71 infection.
BACKGROUND:Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection can induce a series of syndromes including herpangina, viraemia, hand-foot-and-mouth disease and even death. Outbreaks of EV71 infection have been reported periodically over the world and have caused a great number of casualties and a high medical expenditure. Some interferons (IFNs) have been used for the treatment of viral infections for decades; however, conventional IFNs only display mild anti-EV71 activities. No effective drug is currently available for the treatment of EV71 infection. Here, we aimed to investigate whether some IFN subtypes display potent anti-EV71 activities. METHODS: The antiviral activities of 17 type I IFNs were assayed in Vero cells using the cytopathic effect method. Cells were incubated with different concentrations of type I IFNs before or after virus infection. Viral replication was determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The expression levels of IFN downstream antiviral genes were also measured by qRT-PCR. RESULTS: Out of 17 type I IFNs, 4 IFNs (IFN-α4, IFN-α6, IFN-α14 and IFN-α16) displayed potent antiviral activity. Compared with conventional IFN-α2a, IFN-α14 displayed approximately 20× higher antiviral activity. The superior antiviral effect of IFN-α14 was caused by a strong induction of the downstream antiviral effectors. CONCLUSIONS: IFN-α14 and three other IFNs could be considered for the treatment of EV71 infection.