The activity of the antiviral protein induced by various ratios of poly rI-rC and diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-dextran was studied. It was found that, when large doses of poly rI-rC were used, very little viral interference was observed. This effect was initially attributed to the cells being refractory for production of antiviral protein. Subsequent experiments offered alternative explanations sug...

Crude protein fractions from Mirabilis jalapa of northern Iran containing Antiviral Protein (MAP) reduced the systemic accumulation a plant RNA virus in Nicotiana benthamiana. A MAP gene was amplified by RT-PCR total RNAs isolated these Iranian M. plants (MAP-Tehran) without 5´-end signal peptide sequence, to set up an experimental system that would transiently express cell cytosol agroinfiltra...

Short linear motifs (SLiM) are short peptides that facilitate protein function and protein-protein interactions. Viruses utilize these motifs to enter into the host, interact with cellular proteins, or egress from host cells. Studying functional motifs may help to predict protein characteristics, interactions, or the putative cellular role of a protein. In virology, it may reveal aspects of the...

Human Interferon β (INF-β) is a member of cytokines family which different studies have shown its immunomodulatory and antiviral activities. In this study an expression vector was designed and constructed for expression of human INF-β-1b either in shake flasks and bench top bioreactor. The designed vector was constructed based upon pET-25b(+) with T7 promoter. Recombinant human beta interferon ...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major cause of liver disease worldwide, is frequently resistant to the antiviral alpha interferon (IFN). The HCV nonstructural 5A (NS5A) protein has been implicated in HCV antiviral resistance in many studies. NS5A antagonizes the IFN antiviral response in vitro, and one mechanism is via inhibition of a key IFN-induced enzyme, the double-stranded-RNA-activated protein...

Peroxisomes have long been established to play a central role in regulating various metabolic activities in mammalian cells. These organelles act in concert with mitochondria to control the metabolism of lipids and reactive oxygen species. However, while mitochondria have emerged as an important site of antiviral signal transduction, a role for peroxisomes in immune defense is unknown. Here, we...

Interferon(IFN) has proven to be a clinically effective antiviral and antineoplastic therapeutic drug for more than 16 years. During this time, evidence from in vitro laboratory studies and the clinical arena has supported the concept that IFNis an immunotherapeutic drug. By regulating a diverse set of cytokines and their receptors, IFNis uniquely positioned to prime the host immune response an...

Lactoferrin (LF) is an iron binding glycoprotein that is present in several mucosal secretions. Many biological functions have been ascribed to LF. One of the functions of LF is the transport of metals, but LF is also an important component of the non-specific immune system, since LF has antimicrobial properties against bacteria, fungi and several viruses. This review gives an overview of the p...

Antiviral responses must rapidly defend against infection while minimizing inflammatory damage, but the mechanisms that regulate the magnitude of response within an infected cell are not well understood. miRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that suppress protein levels by binding target sequences on their cognate mRNA. Here, we identify miR-144 as a negative regulator of the host antiviral response...