Investigating Functional Roles for Positive Feedback and Cellular Heterogeneity in the Type I Interferon Response to Viral Infection.

ABSTRACT: Secretion of type I interferons (IFN) by infected cells mediates protection against many viruses, but prolonged or excessive type I IFN secretion can lead to immune pathology. A proper type I IFN response must therefore maintain a balance between protection and excessive IFN secretion. It has been widely noted that the type I IFN response is driven by positive feedback and is heterogeneous, with only a fraction of infected cells upregulating IFN expression even in clonal cell lines, but the functional roles of feedback and heterogeneity in balancing protection and excessive IFN secretion are not clear. To investigate the functional roles for feedback and heterogeneity, we constructed a mathematical model coupling IFN and viral dynamics that extends existing mathematical models by accountin

SUBMITTER: Leviyang S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6213501 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature