A construction strategy for a baculovirus-silkworm multigene expression system and its application for coexpression of type I and type II interferons

Liu, Xingjian; Yang, Xin; Mehboob, Arslan; Hu, Xiaoyuan; Yi, Yongzhu; Li, Yinü; Zhang, Zhifang

Interferons (IFNs) were first discovered in the 1950s, and since then, they have been researched deeply in many fields. Interferons are categorized into three major classes. Type I IFNs are generated by almost any type of cell in response to invading pathogens (Alsharifi, Mullbacher, & Regner, 2008) . They can induce the expression of specific antiviral proteins and related physiological responses by binding with specific receptors on the cell membrane (Levy, Marie, & Durbin, 2011) . Type II IFNs possess strong immune regulation ability and can regulate the activity of lymphocytes (Muller et al., 1994; Platanias, 2005) . Type III IFNs have been recently discovered. They have functions similar to those of type I IFNs (Kotenko, 2011; Sheppard et al., 2003) . Some studies indicate that type I and II IFNs demonstrate synergy in the establishment of an antiviral state (Muller et al., 1994; Platanias, 2005; Sekellick, Lowenthal, O'Neil, & Marcus, 1998) .