Human cytomegalovirus autophagy is related to the interferon synthesis and mTOR signal pathway

Abstract

Introduction: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is reported to be involved in the occurrence of many human diseases. To further investigate the biological changes of HCMV, we analyzed the relevant factors that affect the autophagy caused by HCMV infection. Methods: Firstly, we cultured human embryonic lung fibroblasts (HELF) cells with HCMV infection, and evaluated the effects of HELF cells infected with different viruses through Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA), Real-time quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR), Acridine orange (AO) staining and Western blotting (WB) experiments. Results: Through the above experiments, we found that the combined treatment of HCMV infection and carbamazepine, rapamycin and si-mTOR promoted the increase of interferon (IFN)-α/β expression and protein level, and caused the increase of LC3B protein level in HELF cells. In addition, HCMV infection could also affect the biological activities of HELF cells by regulating signal pathways like the JAK/STAT. Conclusion: Autophagy induced by HCMV is affected by the changes in the biological behavior of HELF cells, especially IFN-α/β synthesis and mTOR signal pathway. These findings might shed new light on HCMV-related disease treatment.