📄 Interferon-γ and interleukin-4 downregulate expression of the SARS coronavirus receptor ACE2 in Vero E6 cells

Interferons (IFNs) inhibit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) replication and might be valuable for SARS treatment. In this study, we demonstrate that treatment of Vero E6 cells with interleukin-4 (IL-4) decreased the susceptibility of these cells to SARS-CoV infection. In contrast to IFNs, IL-4 did not show antiviral activity when administered immediately after SARS-CoV infection, suggesting that IL-4 acts early during the SARS-CoV replication cycle. Indeed, binding of recombinant SARS-CoV spike protein to Vero E6 cells was diminished on cells treated with IL-4, but also on cells exposed to IFN-γ. Consistent with these observations, IL-4 and IFN-γ downregulated cell surface expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the SARS-CoV receptor. Besides diminished ACE2 cell surface expression, ACE2 mRNA levels were also decreased after treatment with these cytokines. These findings suggest that IL-4 and IFN-γ inhibit SARS-CoV replication partly through downregulation of ACE2. © 2006 Elsevier Inc.

keywords 🔗 severe acute (1373) 🔗 syndrome coronavirus (1074) 🔗 spike protein (353) 🔗 cell surface (110) 🔗 converting enzyme (162) 🔗 respiratory syndrome (2004) 🔗 angiotensin-converting enzyme (112) 🔗 findings suggest (77) 🔗 acute respiratory (1734)

download 🔖 [BibTeX]