Abstract
Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and lymphotoxin were initially described as tumoricidal proteins that are produced by activated macrophages1,2 and lymphocytes3,4, respectively. Since TNF and lymphotoxin are structurally related, bind to the same cell surface receptor5 and have indistinguishable biological activities6,7, they have been designated as TNF-α and TNF-β, respectively8. The multiple activities8–15 of these molecules indicate their importance in immunoregulative responses. Here we report that both TNF-α and TNF-β have antiviral activity and synergize with interferons (IFNs) in the induction of resistance to both RNA and DNA virus infection in diverse cell types. These effects of TNFs are not due to the induction of IFN synthesis. Virus-infected cells are selectively killed by TNFs and this activity is accelerated by IFN-γ. The production of TNFs is induced by viruses, further suggesting the importance of TNFs in the physiological antiviral response.
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Wong, G., Goeddel, D. Tumour necrosis factors α and β inhibit virus replication and synergize with interferons. Nature 323, 819–822 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/323819a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/323819a0
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