{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,25]],"date-time":"2026-01-25T12:12:26Z","timestamp":1769343146820,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,4]],"date-time":"2021-02-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1612396800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Epithelial cells of the female reproductive tract (FRT) participate in the initial innate immunity against viral infections. Poly(dA:dT) is a synthetic analog of B form double-stranded (ds) DNA which can activate the interferon (IFN) signaling pathway-mediated antiviral immunity through DNA-dependent RNA Polymerase III. Here we investigated whether poly(dA:dT) could inhibit herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection of human cervical epithelial cells (End1\/E6E7). We demonstrated that poly(dA:dT) treatment of End1\/E6E7 cells could significantly inhibit HSV-2 infection. Mechanistically, poly(dA:dT) treatment of the cells induced the expression of the intracellular IFNs and the multiple antiviral IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs), including IFN-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), IFN-stimulated gene 56 (ISG56), 2\u2019-5\u2019-oligoadenylate synthetase 1 (OAS1), 2\u2019-5\u2019-oligoadenylate synthetase 2 (OAS2), myxovirus resistance protein A (MxA), myxovirus resistance protein B (MxB), virus inhibitory protein, endoplasmic reticulum-associated, IFN-inducible (Viperin), and guanylate binding protein 5 (GBP5). Further investigation showed that the activation of RIG-I was largely responsible for poly(dA:dT)-mediated HSV-2 inhibition and IFN\/ISGs induction in the cervical epithelial cells, as RIG-I knockout abolished the poly(dA:dT) actions. These observations demonstrate the importance for design and development of AT-rich dsDNA-based intervention strategies to control HSV-2 mucosal transmission in FRT.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2020.598884","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,4]],"date-time":"2021-02-04T05:58:46Z","timestamp":1612418326000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Poly(dA:dT) Suppresses HSV-2 Infection of Human Cervical Epithelial Cells Through RIG-I Activation"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Dan-Dan","family":"Shao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Feng-Zhen","family":"Meng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xi-Qiu","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xu","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wen-Hui","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wei","family":"Hou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wen-Zhe","family":"Ho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0140765","article-title":"Global 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