Antiviral signal
Interferon-γ (IFN-γ)
Also searched as Interferon-γ (IFN-γ).
Direction depends on timing. Raising it early is a measured way to reduce virus levels and improve survival in this illness. But the same signal is elevated in the inflamed heart later, and lowering it is one of the markers of a treatment that is working. Early and late are not the same target.
In depth
The cytokine the body uses to clear the infection — helpful early, harmful late.
What drives it
Coxsackievirus B3 increases it.
The signal that fights the virus. Interferon-γ is the arm the body uses to clear a cardiotropic infection, and raising it is a measured antiviral mechanism in this exact model — an agent that 'exerts antiviral effects against CVB3 by upregulating expression of IFN-gamma mRNA' reduced virus titres, morbidity and mortality (PMID 16495755 — Astragaloside IV exerts antiviral effects against coxsackievirus B3 by upregulating interferon-gamma). But the same cytokine is elevated in the inflamed heart and is one of the markers a successful treatment lowers. Up early is protective; up late is damage. The direction depends on the phase. PMID 16495755
What it drives
It reduces Coxsackievirus B3.
The signal that fights the virus. Interferon-γ is the arm the body uses to clear a cardiotropic infection, and raising it is a measured antiviral mechanism in this exact model — an agent that 'exerts antiviral effects against CVB3 by upregulating expression of IFN-gamma mRNA' reduced virus titres, morbidity and mortality (PMID 16495755 — Astragaloside IV exerts antiviral effects against coxsackievirus B3 by upregulating interferon-gamma). But the same cytokine is elevated in the inflamed heart and is one of the markers a successful treatment lowers. Up early is protective; up late is damage. The direction depends on the phase. PMID 16495755
It increases Islet inflammation.
The effector cytokine that reaches the islet. Verbatim: 'Cytokines produced by immune cells infiltrating pancreatic islets have been implicated as one of the important mediators of beta-cell destruction in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus' (PMID 12754418), IL-1beta and IFN-gamma named as the challenge pair. Corroborated twice on this build: IFN-gamma and IL-17 fell with omega-3 in new-onset T1D children, and IFN-gamma/IL-1beta was the cocktail both EGCG and curcumin protected against. `ifng` is the antiviral arm as well - IFN-gamma fights viruses and cancer. This edge claims the islet-directed consequence, not that IFN-gamma is undesirable. PMID 12754418
It reduces Viral replication.
Interferon-gamma restricts EMCV replication in myocardium, the same host-restriction relationship already drawn for CVB3. doi 10.1128/CVI.00021-06
It increases Immune checkpoint.
Interferon-gamma upregulates PD-L1 on target tissue, engaging the PD-1 inhibitory axis. PMID 35011581
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.