Recombinant non-structural 1 (NS1) protein of dengue-2 virus interacts with human STAT3β protein

A combination of yeast two-hybrid library screening, co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated that dengue-2 virus non-structural 1 (NS1) protein can interact with an N-terminally truncated form of human STAT3β (ΔN40-STAT3β) protein. The NS1 protein interacted with the activated STAT3β protein in vesicle-like structures in the cell cytoplasm. In addition, transfection of dendritic cells with plasmid expressing NS1 protein also resulted in significant induction of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Since the STAT3β protein is an acute-phase response factor, its interaction with NS1 protein may influence the pathological changes observed in dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome.