The Interplay Between Coronavirus and Type I IFN Response

Abstract

In the past few decades, newly evolved coronaviruses have posed a global threat to public health and animal breeding. To control and prevent the coronavirus-related diseases, understanding the interaction of the coronavirus and the host immune system is the top priority. Coronaviruses have evolved multiple mechanisms to evade or antagonize the host immune response to ensure their replication. As the first line and main component of innate immune response, type I IFN response is able to restrict virus in the initial infection stage; it is thus not surprising that the primary aim of the virus is to evade or antagonize the IFN response. Gaining a profound understanding of the interaction between coronaviruses and type I IFN response will shed light on vaccine development and therapeutics. In this review, we provide an update on the current knowledge on strategies employed by coronaviruses to evade type I IFN response.

Keywords: coronavirus; immune evasion; innate immunity; type I IFN response; viral replication.

FIGURE 1

Genome organization of coronavirus. L, leader; ORF1a/1b, replicase, encoding nsp1-16 (γ- and δ-coronavirus lack nsp1); S, spike; E, envelope; M, membrane; N, nucleocapsid. The location and number of accessory proteins vary in different coronaviruses.

FIGURE 2

Summary of the mechanisms of coronaviruses antagonizing type I IFN system. (A) Inhibition of IFN induction. (B) Inhibition of the JAK-STAT pathway. (C) Manipulation of the host translation machinery. (D) Regulation of stress granules formation.