Abstract
Interleukin-26 (IL-26) belongs to the IL-10 cytokine family, is produced by activated T cells, and targets epithelial target cells for signal transduction. Here, we describe the IL-26 effects on the infection of culture cells with recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), and herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) expressing green fluorescent protein. After pre-incubation with recombinant IL-26 and at low multiplicity of infection, VSV showed strongly enhanced infection and replication rates as measured for infectivity, for transcript levels, and for protein expression. Control proteins did not affect VSV infection. The IL-26 effect was independent of the IL-26 receptor and neutralized by anti-IL-26 serum. Pre-incubation of VSV was much more efficient than pre-incubation of the target cells to enhance virus infection. IL-26 increased virus adsorption to target cells as shown by quantitative reverse-transcription PCR. In contrast, the infection of IL-26-treated human fibroblasts with HCMV was inhibited and the infection by HSV-1 was not altered by IL-26. Thus, IL-26 differentially modulates the infection by different enveloped viruses.
Highlights
The T cellular cytokine interleukin-26 (IL-26) is a member of the IL-10 cytokine family consisting of IL-10, IL-19, IL-20, IL-22, IL-24, IL-26, and the type III interferons (IFN-λ), namely IL-28A, IL-28B, and IL-29
There was no effect of IL-26 treatment on herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection in Colo-205 cells after 2 d irrespectively of whether vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) or target cells were pre-incubated (Figure 1B)
In contrast to VSV, the infection of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) was inhibited by IL-26-pre-incubation (5 or 25 μg/ml) of HCMV or primary human fibroblasts and subsequent infection with HCMV at MOI = 0.003 after 5 d (Figure 1C)
Summary
The T cellular cytokine interleukin-26 (IL-26) is a member of the IL-10 cytokine family consisting of IL-10, IL-19, IL-20, IL-22, IL-24, IL-26, and the type III interferons (IFN-λ), namely IL-28A, IL-28B, and IL-29. The IL-10 cytokine family is defined by common properties such as conserved genetic and protein structures and the usage of homologous heterodimeric receptors of the class II cytokine family on target cells. Despite these similarities, the biological effects of the individual cytokines are diverse due to different cellular sources and cell type-specific receptors [1,2,3,4]. IL26 and IL22 transcription was shown for the NKp44+ subset of natural killer cells [19,20]
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