Type I and Type III Interferons Drive Redundant Amplification Loops to Induce a Transcriptional Signature in Influenza-Infected Airway Epithelia

Interferons (ifns) are a group of cytokines with a well-established antiviral function. they can be induced by viral infection,are secreted and bind to specific receptors on the same or neighbouring cells to activate the expression of hundreds of ifn stimulated genes (isgs) with antiviral function. type i ifn has been known for more than half a century. however,more recently,type iii ifn (ifnλ,il-28/29) was shown to play a similar role and to be particularly important at epithelial surfaces. here we show that airway epithelia,the primary target of influenza a virus,produce both ifn i and iii upon infection,and that induction of both depends on the rig-i/mavs pathway. while irf3 is generally regarded as the transcription factor required for initiation of ifn transcription and the so-called priming loop