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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 282, Issue 16, 11817-11826, April 20, 2007
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1
2
From the
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics and
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095
Received for publication, January 2, 2007 , and in revised form, February 20, 2007.
| ABSTRACT |
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B activator (TANK) plays an important role in interferon induction through both retinoic acid-inducible gene I- and Toll-like receptor-dependent pathways. TANK forms complexes with both upstream signal mediators, such as Cardif/MAVS/IPS-1/VISA, TRIF (Toll-interleukin-1 receptor domain-containing adaptor inducing interferon-
), and TRAF3 and downstream mediators TANK-binding kinase 1, inducible I
B kinase, and interferon regulatory factor 3. In addition, it synergizes with these signaling components in interferon induction. Specific knockdown of TANK results in reduced type I interferon production, increased viral titers, and enhanced cell sensitivity to viral infection. Thus, TANK may be a critical adaptor that regulates the assembly of the TANK-binding kinase 1-inducible I
B kinase complex with upstream signaling molecules in multiple antiviral pathways. | INTRODUCTION |
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and more than a dozen IFN
proteins. These cytokines bind to a common receptor, the type I IFN receptor (IFNAR), leading to induction of a large set of genes important in antiviral responses (13). Induction of IFN is triggered by microbial components termed pathogen-associated molecular patterns, such as viral RNA and DNA, which can be viewed as a molecular "signature" of the invading pathogens (47). A major class of cellular proteins capable of recognizing pathogens is the family of membrane receptors termed Toll-like receptors (46). In addition, many types of cells also have TLR-independent, intracellular detection systems to sense viral invasion and initiate innate immune responses (810). Recent studies have identified an RNA helicase-CARD-containing protein RIG-I and its homologue, Helicard/Mda5, as major intracellular receptors for viral double-stranded RNA.
Upon recognition of different subsets of pathogen-associated molecular patterns, individual TLRs trigger distinct innate immune responses via recruitment of different MyD88 adaptor family members, primarily MyD88 and Toll-interleukin-1 receptor domain-containing adaptor inducing IFN-
(TRIF) (5, 1114). These adaptors function as a platform to organize downstream molecules into signaling complexes, leading to activation of multiple signal cascades, particularly the NF-
B and IFN pathways, eventually resulting in specific cellular responses against different types of pathogens. Activation of NF-
B pathway requires the I
B kinase (IKK) signalosome, a signaling complex composed of two closely related kinase subunits (IKK
and IKK
) and a regulatory subunit NF-
B essential modulator (NEMO, also called IKK
) (1518). IFN induction by both TLR and RIG-I pathways requires the TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) or inducible I
B kinase (IKKi), two non-canonical members of the IKK family (1923) that have been shown to function as the primary kinases capable of phosphorylating interferon regulatory factor 3 and 7 (IRF3/IRF7). TBK1- and IKKi-mediated phosphorylation and activation of IRF3 and IRF7 are critical steps for IFN production during TLR stimulation or viral infection (1921, 24). Among 11 known TLR family members (1, 2, 6, 8, 13, 19, 25), TLR3 and TLR4-dependent IRF3/IRF7 phosphorylation and IFN induction require the adaptor protein TRIF, whereas TLR7/8 and TLR9-mediated activation of IFNs depends on MyD88 (2, 6, 13, 25, 26). However, the connection between TRIF or MyD88 and TBK1·IKKi in TLR-mediated signal transduction pathways for type I interferon production is not yet fully understood. In RIG-I-mediated intracellular viral detection pathway, the helicase domain of RIG-I can recognize the viral double-stranded RNA. The N-terminal CARD regions can induce NF-
B and IRF3/IRF7 activation (810, 2730). Recent reporters also demonstrated that Cardif/MAVS/IPS-1/VISA functions as a primary adaptor protein for RIG-I in IFN induction pathways (3134), but it is not yet clear how the Cardif/MAVS/IPS-1/VISA induces IFN activation. Recently, we found that TRAF3 plays a critical role in TLR as well as viral-induced IFN activation (35, 36). Our studies also show that TAF3 can interact with MyD88, TRIF, and Cardif (35, 37).
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| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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Murine macrophage cell line RAW264.7, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and 293T cells were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum. Murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs) were generated by culturing the bone marrow cells for 7 days in media containing macrophage colony-stimulating factor.
Reporter Gene AssaysLuciferase assays were preformed as previously described (42, 43). Briefly, 293T cells seeded on 12-well plates were transiently transfected with a luciferase reporter plasmid, and various expression plasmids were indicated. In each experiment total amounts of DNA in each sample were kept constant by supplementation with the appropriate empty parental expression vector(s). For normalization of transfection efficiency, each transfection included 50 ng of a pCMV-LacZ control plasmid, which constitutively expresses
-galactosidase. 36 h after transfection cells were harvested, and firefly luciferase activities were analyzed using a luciferase assay kit (Promega Corp.) according to the manufacturer's protocol. -Fold induction was calculated for each sample by dividing the luciferase activity, normalized to
-galactosidase activity, by that observed in the sample containing only empty parental expression vectors. To measure luciferase activity in RAW cells, RAW cells seeded on 6-well plates were transfected with plasmids indicated, and 24 h after transfection cells were stimulated with LPS or poly(IC) or infected with virus for 24 h, and luciferase activities were measured.
Immunoblotting and Immunoprecipitation293T cell transfection was performed as described (42, 43). For Western analyses, protein samples in modified radioimmune precipitation assay buffer were separated on 10% SDS-PAGE, transferred to nitrocellulose membranes, and immunoblotted using standard methods. For immunoprecipitation, total cell lysates were pre-cleared with Sepharose protein G beads for 1 h at 4°C. The cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with 2 µg of specific antibody or control IgG for 16 h. The immunoprecipitates were washed 3 times with the lysis buffer and analyzed by Western blot.
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Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) Infection and Plaque AssayFor TANK-induced anti-viral response, 293T cells in 12-well plate were transfected with empty vector or pCMV-FLAG-TANK plasmid. 24 h after transfection cells were infected with VSV at a multiplicity of infection of 0.1 for 24 h. To examine the effect of silencing TANK on VSV infection, MEFs were transfected with siRNA oligo duplexes for TANK or GFP using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen), and 48 h after siRNA treatment MEFs were infected with VSV at a multiplicity of infection of 0.1. Cell viability was determined by the trypan blue exclusion method. Virus yield was measured in culture supernatants collected from VSV-infected 293T cells or MEFs by standard plaque assay. Briefly, Vero cells were infected with serial dilutions of recovered viruses for 1 h and were overlaid with Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium containing 0.5% low melting agarose. After 24 h of incubation, plates were stained with crystal violet, and plaques were counted.
IFN ProductionTo measure IFN production, 293T cells transfected with plasmids or infected with viruses were cultured for 24 h. Culture supernatants were collected, and IFN
levels were determined by IFN ELISA kits according to the manufacturer's instructions (PBL Biomedical Laboratories).
Neutralizing Type I IFN ActivitiesTo block IFN activities in culture supernatants, an anti-human IFN
antibody and an anti-human IFN
antibody (PBL Biomedical Laboratories) were mixed together as anti-IFN
/
antibodies at a final concentration of 20 µg/ml. Culture supernatant from 293T cells transfected with TANK was treated with anti-IFN
/
antibodies or nonspecific IgG for 1 h. Then conditioned media were incubated with fresh 293T cells for 1 h. Cells were lysed, and STAT1 phosphorylation was analyzed by Western blot.
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/
to the type I IFN receptor (IFNAR), we utilized a mouse monoclonal antibody against human IFN
/
receptor (anti-IFNAR2) (PBL Biomedical Laboratories) or nonspecific isotype control mouse-IgG2a at final concentrations of 25 µg/ml. Cells were pretreated with anti-IFNAR2 antibodies or control antibody for 30 min and then infected with Sendai virus for 4 h. Cells were lysed, and STAT1 phosphorylation was analyzed by Western blot. | RESULTS |
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or IFN-stimulated response element promoter, which is regulated by IRFs. In accordance with early publications, TANK itself could slightly induce NF-
B transcription. We also confirmed the role of TANK in the induction of type I IFN at protein level. Production of endogenous IFN
could be detected in the culture supernatants of 293T cells transfected with TANK in a dosage-dependent manner, although we could not detect IFN with lower concentrations of TANK, probably because the amount of IFN produced might be below the detection limit of the ELISA system. As an alternative way to examine the type I IFNs in the culture supernatants, we investigated whether type I IFNs induced by TANK could lead to the activation of STAT1. We conducted experiments using a mixture of anti-IFN
/
antibodies to neutralize IFN activities in the culture supernatants. As shown in Fig. 1E, the addition of conditional media (CM) collected from TANK-transfected cells led to STAT1 phosphorylation, as opposed to CM from cells transfected with empty vector. Treatment using anti-IFN
/
antibodies but not nonspecific control IgG clearly reduced STAT1 activation, indicating that type I IFNs in the culture supernatants were responsible for this effect. Because type I IFNs provide immediate innate antiviral defense, we then analyzed the effect of TANK-induced IFN on VSV infection. VSV is a cytopathic virus and is very sensitive to IFNs and has been widely used in IFN antiviral assays (19, 33, 34, 45). 293T cells were transfected with an empty vector or a plasmid encoding TANK. Subsequently, cells were infected with VSV for 24 h, and viral titer was measured by plaque assay. As shown in Fig. 1F, overexpression of TANK reduced virus growth as supernatant from TANK-expressing cells had much lower viral titer. These results indicate that TANK has the ability to furnish antiviral responses through induction of type I IFN.
Involvement of TANK in Multiple Viral Detection PathwaysTo more directly investigate the involvement of TANK in virally induced type I IFN production, we examined the effect of silencing of TANK on IFN
induction by viral infection. As fibroblast cells, 293T cells lack most of the TLRs; therefore, IFN response is likely mediated through intracellular detection pathways. Knockdown of endogenous TANK protein in 293T cells decreased IFN
transcription induced by Sendai virus infection or transfection of poly(IC), which has been shown to mimic viral double-stranded RNA (Fig. 2A). Consequently, 293T cells treated with TANK siRNA, but not GFP siRNA, produced much less IFN protein in response to poly(IC) transfection and Sendai virus infection (Fig. 2B). The efficiency of siRNA to reduce TANK protein levels in human and murine cells is shown in Fig. 2C. We further elucidated TANK-mediated STAT1 phosphorylation trigged by viral infection. Although viral infection induced strong STAT1 phosphorylation in cells with control siRNA, silencing TANK expression led to impaired STAT1 phosphorylation during viral infection (Fig. 2D). To further confirm the role of type I IFN in TANK-dependent phosphorylation of STAT1, we utilized a neutralizing antibody against IFNAR to block binding of type I IFNs with their receptor. The addition of the neutralizing anti-human IFNAR antibody but not isotype control significantly inhibited viral induced STAT1 phosphorylation (Fig. 2E). These data together demonstrate that type I IFNs induced by TANK was responsible for TANK-mediated STAT1 phosphorylation.
We also monitored viral-induced STAT1 phosphorylation in murine BMMs, which may use TLR-dependent and -independent mechanisms to detect viral infection. As shown in Fig. 2F, knocking down TANK protein severely reduced virally induced STAT1 phosphorylation. Next, we investigated the involvement of TANK in intracellular anti-viral response in MEFs. MEFs treated with siRNA duplexes specific for TANK were infected with VSV. TBK1-deficient MEFs were also included as a positive control. As shown in Fig. 3, almost all of TBK1-deficient cells died post-VSV infection because of defects in IFN induction. However, IFN pretreatment could reduce such VSV-induced cell death. As for TBK1-deficient cells, but with a lesser extent, MEFs treated with siRNA duplexes specific for TANK also exhibited accelerated cell death upon VSV infection (Fig. 3, A and C). Accordingly, MEFs with knockdown of TANK had much higher viral titer (Fig. 3B). These data point out that TANK may play an important role in innate immunity against viral infection.
Association of TANK with the Adaptor Protein CardifInduction of type I interferons in fibroblasts is triggered by intracellular viral receptors such as RIG-I. Recent studies demonstrate that Cardif/MAVS/IPS-1/VISA is a critical adaptor protein for the RIG-I-mediated NF-
B and IFN activation. To further elucidate the mechanism of TANK-mediated IFN induction by viral infection, we examined the involvement of TANK in RIG-I pathways. We observed that knockdown of TANK protein inhibited activation of type I IFN promoters by RIG-I (Fig. 4A). We also found that TANK could synergize with Cardif to induce IFN promoter transcription (Fig. 4B), Conversely, knockdown of TANK reduced IFN
production induced by Cardif (Fig. 4C). Furthermore, TANK and Mda5/Helicard, a homologue of RIG-I, together had a strong synergy with TBK1 in IFN induction (data not shown). These data suggest that the TANK may participate in cytoplasmic detection pathways.
The involvement of TANK in the RIG-I pathway promoted us to examine the interaction between TANK and signaling molecules in this pathway. Although we were unable to detect an interaction between TANK and RIG-I in our overexpression system, we did find interaction of TANK with the adaptor protein Cardif/MAVS/IPS-1/VISA. When cell lysates from 293T cells transfected with FLAG-TANK and Myc-Cardif were immunoprecipitated with anti-FLAG and probed with anti-myc antibody, Cardif was detected in TANK immunoprecipitates. Similarly, TANK was also found associated with Cardif immunoprecipitates (Fig. 4D). As discussed below, we also have detected endogenous TANK and Cardif interaction in MEFs infected with Sendai virus (see Fig. 7D).
Knockdown of TANK Protein Attenuates Induction of IFN by TLRsIn addition to intracellular viral detection pathways, another major mechanism responsible for IFN activation is through TLRs. We then examined the function of TANK in TLR-induced IFN activation in macrophages. The murine macrophage cell line, RAW264.7, was co-transfected with a TANK construct and either an NF-
B or an IFN
luciferase reporter plasmid. As expected, stimulation of RAW cells with TLR ligands led to induction of NF-
B and IFN activities (Fig. 5A). Interestingly, introduction of TANK into macrophages enhanced IFN
transcription in response to TLR3 or TLR4 stimulation, which uses TRIF-dependent pathways. Furthermore, we also noticed that changes occurred to TANK protein upon TLR activation. When BMMs were treated with LPS or poly(IC), slow migrating and diffused high molecular weight bands appeared, indicating possible modification of TANK protein (data not shown). These results implicate the involvement of TANK in TLR signaling.
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promoter transcription induced by various TLRs (Fig. 5B). Consequently, silencing TANK protein expression also resulted in impaired STAT1 phosphorylation in RAW cells stimulated with LPS (Fig. 5C). Compared with the IFN pathway, TLR-induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation was generally not affected.
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TANK Cooperates with TRAF3 and TRIF in IFN InductionInduction of type I interferons triggered by LPS or poly(IC) is mediated by the adaptor protein TRIF. We, therefore, evaluated the contribution of TANK to the TRIF-dependent IFN pathway. Fig. 6A shows that TANK could enhance TRIF-mediated IFN activation. Conversely, knockdown of TANK diminished TRIF-induced IFN
and IFN-stimulated response element promoter activation (Fig. 6B). These results indicate that TANK and TRIF could synergistically stimulate IFN expression in TLR pathways.
Because TANK was originally identified via yeast two-hybrid screening as a TRAF3-interacting protein (42, 46) and TRAF3-deficient cells have defective IFN response to TLR stimulation and viral infection (35, 36), we hypothesized that TANK in association with TRAF3 may provide a molecular link between TRIF and downstream signaling molecules. Even though either TANK or TRAF3 alone is a weak inducer for IFN
production, TANK and TRAF3 exhibited a great synergy in enhancing TRIF-mediated IFN
induction (Fig. 6C). The requirement for TANK and TRAF3 in IFN activation and their cooperation with TRIF suggested that these signaling molecules may interact with each other. Therefore, we performed immunoprecipitation studies to evaluate this possibility. Myc-tagged TRIF was co-expressed with TRAF3 and TANK and was immunoprecipitated using anti-Myc antibody. Then immunoprecipitates were blotted with anti-TANK- or anti-TRAF3-specific antibodies. TANK and TRAF3 could be detected in TRIF immunoprecipitates. Interestingly, the amount of TANK associated with TRIF evidently increased when TRAF3 was co-expressed (Fig. 6D). These results suggest these signaling proteins may form a supramolecular complex.
TANK Interacts with TBK1 and IKKi in IFN Induction PathwaysBoth TLR and RIG-I pathways utilize TBK1 and/or IKKi kinases for IFN induction. TBK1 was initially identified through its interaction with TANK in yeast two-hybrid screening. Subsequent studies also revealed the interaction between TANK and IKKi (38, 39, 47). The ability of TANK to interact with TBK1·IKKi and the involvement of TANK in TRIF- and Cardif-mediated IFN activation imply that TANK may interact and modulate TBK1·IKKi activities. To test this, we examined whether TANK cooperates with TBK1 and IKKi in the type I IFN induction pathway. 293T cells were transiently transfected with TANK and TBK1 or IKKi expression plasmids, and induction of IFN
was measured by reporter gene assay. TANK was found to be able to increase TBK1- and IKKi-induced IFN
promoter activities (Fig. 7, A and B). In agreement with previous overexpression studies, we found TANK could interact with TBK1 and IKKi in the 293T overexpression system (Fig. 7C and data not shown). Our data further demonstrate that TANK could form a signaling complex with TBK1 and IRF3 (Fig. 7C). When FLAG-tagged TANK was immunoprecipitated with anti-FLAG antibody, co-expressed TBK and IRF3 were detected by Western blot analysis. Of note, immunoblotting displayed that endogenous TBK1 protein could be immunoprecipitated with TANK in 293T cells (Fig. 7C, lane 2). Our results imply that TANK could potentially function as an adaptor molecule to organize and collaborate with TBK1 and IKKi in IFN activation.
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We then analyzed endogenous TANK signaling complexes in macrophages. The signaling complex was immunoprecipitated from untreated or poly(IC)-stimulated macrophages using anti-TRAF3 antibody. TANK was detected in TRAF3 immunoprecipitates from both stimulated and non-stimulated RAW cells (Fig. 7E). No association was observed using control antibodies. The relative amount of TBK1 in TRAF3 immunoprecipitates increased upon TLR stimulation. We further investigated the recruitment of signaling molecules to TRIF. A number of signaling molecules including TANK, TBK1, and IRF3 were found to associate with the adaptor TRIF, and such association was increased upon poly(IC) stimulation in macrophages (Fig. 7F). These results suggest that TLR stimulation leads to further recruitment of these proteins to form a TRIF signaling complex essential for IFN activation. Collectively, our data imply that TANK could function as an adaptor molecule to link and recruit downstream TBK1·IKKi to the upstream signaling complex in multiple IFN induction pathways.
| DISCUSSION |
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·IKK
and NF-
B activation. Thus, two IKK complexes, the classical NEMO·IKK
·IKK
complex and the non-canonical TANK·TBK1·IKKi complex, control key transcription factors NF-
B and IRFs, respectively, in response to TLR stimulation and viral infection (Fig. 8).
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B and IRF3. The importance of RIG-I has been demonstrated in genetic studies as RIG-I-deficient fibroblasts fail to produce IFN
in response to viral infection. Recently, several groups have identified a novel CARD-containing adaptor protein, variously termed IPS-1, MAVS, VISA, or Cardif, as a downstream adaptor molecule of RIG-I (3134). Moreover, Cardif has been shown to be targeted by hepatitis C virus to evade innate immune systems. Despite these exciting findings, there are significant inconsistencies regarding Cardif-interacting proteins. Therefore, the mechanisms by which Cardif activates NF-
B and IFN pathways remain largely unknown. In the current studies we demonstrated the interaction between TANK and Cardif. Our data also show the association of endogenous TANK and other signaling molecules such as TBK1 with Cardif during Sendai virus infection. Although it remains to be determined if TANK directly binds to Cardif or through adaptor proteins such as TRAF family members, it seems that TANK may link RIG-I/Cardif to TBK1· IKKi·IRFs complexes. Thus, TANK may modulate or orchestrate signaling events essential for IFN activation in response to viral infection.
Interestingly, our data also indicate that TANK is involved in IFN
induction by TLRs. TRIF has been demonstrated to be the major adaptor molecule for TLR3 or TLR4-mediated type I IFN induction (5, 1214). Our work suggests that the TANK· TBK1·IKKi complex may be recruited to TRIF via another adaptor molecule, TRAF3. We found TANK could associate with TRIF and TRAF3 and collaborate with these molecules in inducing IFN
promoter activation. This finding is contradictory to those from Sasai et al. (48), who did not observe the co-immunoprecipitation of TANK and TRIF. Although the discrepancy between these studies is not clear, it might arise from different experimental conditions. Nevertheless, our data underscore the importance of TANK in IFN induction triggered by multiple TLRs. An intriguing question is how TANK regulates TBK1·IKKi activities. Our data support a model whereby TANK and TRAFs play a critical role in the IFN induction pathways by promoting the assembly of distinct signaling complexes such as TRIF or Cardif complexes, which may contain different adaptors, kinases, and effectors. The interaction of these molecules promotes the activation of TBK1·IKKi, events that are essential for IFN production in response to TLR stimulation or viral infection. Another possible mechanism is through modification and oligomerization of TANK. We found that endogenous TANK protein underwent modification upon TLR stimulation, and TANK protein has been shown to be able to form oligomers. Interestingly, it appears that TANK functions in the type I interferon pathway in a similar way as NEMO/IKK
in the NF-
B activation pathway. The modification and oligomerization of NEMO have been proposed as one of possible mechanisms for IKK
and IKK
activation. However, the mechanism of TANK function in TLR stimulation and viral infection still needs further study.
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| FOOTNOTES |
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1 Supported in part by Tumor Immunology Fellowship 5 T32 CA009120
[GenBank]
29 and a Special Fellowship from the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. ![]()
2 To whom correspondence should be addressed: University of California, Los Angeles, Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, 8-240 Factor Bldg., 10833 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095. Tel.: 310-825-8896; Fax: 310-206-5553; E-mail: genhongc{at}microbio.ucla.edu.
3 The abbreviations used are: TLR, Toll-like receptor; IFN, interferon; IFNAR, type I IFN receptor; IKK, I
B kinase; IKKi, inducible IKK; TRAF, tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor; TANK, TRAF family member-associated NF-
B activator; RIG-I, retinoic acid inducible gene I; MEF, mouse embryonic fibroblast; VSV, vesicular stomatitis virus; CM, conditional media; BMM, murine bone marrow-derived macrophages; TRIF, Toll-interleukin-1 receptor domain-containing adaptor inducing interferon-
; NEMO, NF-
B essential modulator; TBK1, TANK-binding kinase 1; IRF, interferon regulatory factor; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; HA, hemagglutinin; si-, small interfering-; GFP, green fluorescent protein; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; CARD, caspase recruitment domain. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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