Antiviral effects of IFIT1 in human cytomegalovirus‐infected fetal astrocytes

Zhang, Li; Wang, Bin; Li, Ling; Qian, Dong‐meng; Yu, Hong; Xue, Mei‐lan; Hu, Ming; Song, Xu‐xia

The prominent feature of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is cell tropism specificity for human fetal nervous system, which leads to severe fetal nervous system damage especially in first‐trimester gestation. In this study, human astrocytes isolated from fetal brain were infected with HCMV AD169 and whole genome transcriptome profile was performed. The results showed that the gene expression of interferon stimulated genes (ISGs), chemokine and chemokine receptors were significantly up‐regulated (P < 0.01). The antiviral replication effects of IFIT1 (Interferon‐induced protein with tetratricopeptide repeats 1, Fc = 148.17) was investigated. Lentivirus with IFIT1 overexpression or knockdown was transduced into astrocytes, respectively. The viral mRNA, protein expression and HCMV titers were determined. The results showed that IE1, IE2, pp65, and viral titers were significantly decreased in IFIT1 overexpression group and enhanced in the knockdown group compared with control one (P < 0.01). Taken together, this study revealed IFIT1 played an important antiviral role in HCMV infected fetal astrocytes. The prominent feature of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is cellular tropism specificity for human fetal brain nervous system leading to severe fetal nervous damage especially in first‐trimester gestation. In this study, human astrocytes isolated from first‐trimester fetal brain were infected with HCMV AD169 and IFIT1 was studied for its antiviral replication effects. The results provided insights into the function of IFIT1 as a key factor in antiviral defense contributing to development of targeted therapeutics to fetal brain with HCMV infection. J. Med. Virol. 89:672–684, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.