Here, we demonstrate that a viral miRNA downregulates the IL-1 receptor 1 during EBV infection, which consequently alters the responsiveness of cells to IL-1 stimuli and changes the cytokine expression levels within infected cell populations.
The levels of inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β and TNF-α in the HNE2 cell group after EBV infection were higher than these levels in the uninfected cell group (P<0.05); Meanwhile, after EBV infection, the expression levels of TLR9/NF-κB pathway associated-protein and inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β and TNF-α in the HNE2/SPLUNC1 cell group were lower than these levels in the HNE2/Vector cell group (P<0.05).