1. Induction of Alpha/Beta Interferon by Myxoma Virus Is Selectively Abrogated When Primary Mouse Embryo Fibroblasts Become Immortalized
- Author
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Gregory A. Dekaban, Fuan Wang, Yiyue Ma, Grant McFadden, and John W. Barrett
- Subjects
Immunology ,Cellular Response to Infection ,Alpha interferon ,Myxoma virus ,Cell Separation ,Microbiology ,Virus ,Mice ,Interferon ,Virology ,medicine ,Animals ,Poxviridae ,Cells, Cultured ,Interferon alfa ,Cell Proliferation ,biology ,Interferon-alpha ,Interferon-beta ,Fibroblasts ,Embryo, Mammalian ,biology.organism_classification ,STAT1 Transcription Factor ,Gene Expression Regulation ,Viral replication ,Cell culture ,Insect Science ,embryonic structures ,cardiovascular system ,Signal Transduction ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) are a widely used cell culture system in life sciences, including virology. Here, we show that although primary MEFs are nonpermissive to myxoma virus replication, the corresponding immortalized MEFs support a highly productive myxoma virus infection. We further demonstrate that this permissive phenotype for myxoma virus in immortalized MEFs is due to the immortalization-associated selective block to the cellular alpha/beta interferon induction machinery involved in responding to myxoma virus challenge. Thus, our report presents a clear example, illustrating that a drastic phenotypic alteration can occur with respect to virus infection between primary cells and their immortalized counterparts.
- Published
- 2009