Interleukin-11 (IL-11), a well-known anti-inflammatory factor, provides protection from intestinal epithelium damage caused by physical or chemical factors. However, little is known of the role of IL-11 during viral infections. In this study, IL-11 expression at mRNA and protein levels were found to be high in Vero cells and the jejunum of piglets during porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection, while IL-11 expression was found to be positively correlated with the level of viral infection. Pretreatment with recombinant porcine IL-11 (pIL-11) was found to suppress PEDV replication in Vero E6 cells, while IL-11 knockdown promoted viral infection. Furthermore, pIL-11 was found to inhibit viral infection by preventing PEDV-mediated apoptosis of cells by activating the IL-11/STAT3 signaling pathway. Conversely, application of a STAT3 phosphorylation inhibitor significantly antagonized the anti-apoptosis function of pIL-11 and counteracted its inhibition of PEDV. Our data suggest that IL-11 is a newfound PEDV-inducible cytokine, and its production enhances the anti-apoptosis ability of epithelial cells against PEDV infection. The potential of IL-11 to be used as a novel therapeutic against devastating viral diarrhea in piglets deserves more attention and study.
【초록키워드】 Apoptosis, viral infection, Anti-inflammatory, Infection, cytokine, diarrhea, virus, viral infections, Replication, mRNA, therapeutic, Phosphorylation, Factors, VERO E6 cells, signaling pathway, inhibitor, expression, epithelial cell, epidemic diarrhea, STAT3, PEDV, knockdown, protein level, intestinal epithelium, Vero Cell, physical, Cell, ENhance, caused, significantly, inhibit, provide, suppress, activating, promoted, antagonized, IL-11, Interleukin-11, positively correlated, 【제목키워드】 virus infection, epidemic diarrhea,