Caveats of Using Overexpression Approaches to Screen Cellular Host IFITM Proteins for Antiviral Activity

• Published in: Pathogens (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 4; p. 519
• Main Authors: Meischel, Tina, Fritzlar, Svenja, Villalón-Letelier, Fernando, Smith, Jeffrey M, Brooks, Andrew G, Reading, Patrick C, Londrigan, Sarah L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 27.03.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antiviral activity; Antiviral agents; Cell lines; Cells; Cloning; Dengue fever; Doxycycline; Eggs; Gene expression; host antiviral factors; IFITM proteins; Infections; Influenza A; influenza A virus; innate immunity; Interferon; Membrane proteins; mRNA; Parainfluenza; parainfluenza virus; Plasmids; Protein expression; Proteins; respiratory viruses; Software; Testing; Viral infections; Viruses; West Nile virus; Australia; Brazil; United States > US; host antiviral factors; IFITM proteins; innate immunity; parainfluenza virus; respiratory viruses; influenza A virus

Ectopic protein overexpression in immortalised cell lines is a commonly used method to screen host factors for their antiviral activity against different viruses. However, the question remains as to what extent such artificial protein overexpression recapitulates endogenous protein function. Previou...