Yellow Fever Virus Down-Regulates mRNA Expression of SOCS1 in the Initial Phase of Infection in Human Cell Lines

• Main Authors: Michael B. Yakass, David Franco, Osbourne Quaye
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
• Series: Viruses
• Subjects: yellow fever virus; suppressors of cytokine signalling (SOCS); protein inhibitors of activated STATs (PIAS); flavivirus
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/12/8/802

Flaviviruses are constantly evolving diverse immune evasion strategies, and the exploitation of the functions of suppressors of cytokine signalling (SOCS) and protein inhibitors of activated STATs (PIAS) to favour virus replication has been described for Dengue and Japanese encephalitis viruses but not for yellow fever virus (YFV), which is still of global importance despite the existence of an effective vaccine. Some mechanisms that YFV employs to evade host immune defence has been reported, but the expression patterns of <i>SOCS</i> and <i>PIAS</i> in infected cells is yet to be determined. Here, we show that <i>SOCS1</i> is down-regulated early in YFV-infected HeLa and HEK 293T cells, while <i>SOCS3</i> and <i>SOCS5</i> are not significantly altered, and <i>PIAS</i> mRNA expression appears to follow a rise-dip pattern akin to circadian-controlled genes. We also demonstrate that YFV evades interferon-β application to produce comparable viral titres. This report provides initial insight into the in vitro expression dynamics of <i>SOCS</i> and <i>PIAS</i> upon YFV infection and a basis for further investigation into <i>SOCS/PIAS</i> expression and how these modulate the immune response in animal models.