We hypothesize that dengue virus infection of the liver cells may trigger both an oxidant-dependent and an oxidant-independent pathway to up-regulate RANTES mRNA expression through activating NF-IL-6 and an undefined factor, respectively.
Future studies will be required to clarify whether or not the interplay between NF-IL6 and viral infection is responsible for deregulation of the IL-6 gene.
Consistent with these functions, NF-IL6 alone is sufficient to complement an E1A deletion mutant dl312 in viral infection, when expressed at appropriate concentrations.