Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1995 Aug;69(8):4633-9.
doi: 10.1128/JVI.69.8.4633-4639.1995.

Vaccinia, cowpox, and camelpox viruses encode soluble gamma interferon receptors with novel broad species specificity

A Alcamí  1 , G L Smith
Affiliations

Vaccinia, cowpox, and camelpox viruses encode soluble gamma interferon receptors with novel broad species specificity

A Alcamí et al. J Virol. 1995 Aug.

Abstract

Soluble receptors for gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) are secreted from cells infected by 17 orthopoxviruses, including vaccinia, cowpox, rabbitpox, buffalopox, elephantpox, and camelpox viruses, representing three species (vaccinia, cowpox, and campelpox viruses). The B8R open reading frame of vaccinia virus strain Western Reserve, which has sequence similarity to the extracellular binding domain of cellular IFN-gamma receptors (IFN-gamma Rs), is shown to encode an IFN-gamma binding activity by expression in recombinant baculovirus. The soluble virus IFN-gamma Rs bind IFN-gamma and, by preventing its interaction with the cellular receptor, interfere with the antiviral effects induced by this cytokine. Interestingly, in contrast to cellular IFN-gamma Rs, which are highly species specific, the vaccinia, cowpox, and camelpox virus IFN-gamma Rs bind and inhibit the biological activity of human, bovine, and rat IFN-gamma but not mouse IFN-gamma. This unique broad species specificity of the IFN-gamma R would aid virus replication in different species and suggests that vaccinia, cowpox, and camelpox viruses may have evolved in several species, possibly including humans but excluding mice. Last, the conservation of an IFN-gamma R in orthopoxviruses emphasizes the importance of IFN-gamma in defense against poxvirus infections.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Arch Virol. 1978;56(1-2):7-14 - PubMed
    1. Am J Vet Res. 1964 Jan;25:236-42 - PubMed
    1. EMBO J. 1985 Mar;4(3):761-7 - PubMed
    1. J Exp Med. 1985 Aug 1;162(2):501-15 - PubMed
    1. J Interferon Res. 1986 Feb;6(1):29-37 - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data

LinkOut - more resources