Japanese encephalitis virus differentially modulates the induction of multiple pro‐inflammatory mediators in human astrocytoma and astroglioma cell‐lines

Abstract Astrocytes become activated in response to many CNS pathologies. The process of astrocyte activation remains rather enigmatic and results in so‐called reactive gliosis, a reaction with specific structural and functional characteristics. Astrocytes play a vital role in regulating aspects of inflammation and in the homeostatic maintenance of the CNS. However, the responses of different human astroglial cell‐lines in viral encephalitis mediated inflammation are not well documented. We have shown that Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection causes morphological and functional changes in astrocytic cell‐lines. We have demonstrated that besides reactive oxygen species (ROS) JEV infection differentially regulated the induction pattern of IL‐6, IL‐1β and IL‐8. IP‐10, MCP‐1, MIG and RANTES secretions in different astroglial cell‐lines. The expression of different proteins such as astrocyte‐specific glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), the glutamate aspartate transporter/essential amino acid transporter‐1 (GLAST/EAAT‐1), glutamate transporter‐1/essential amino acid transporter‐2 (GLT‐1/EAAT‐2), Ceruloplasmin and Thioredoxin (TRX) expression level also differ in different human astrocyte cell‐lines following infection.