STAT3 roles in viral infection: antiviral or proviral?

Zhangmei Chang; Yan Wang; Xin Zhou; Jian-Er Long

doi:10.2217/fvl-2018-0033

STAT3 roles in viral infection: antiviral or proviral?

Future Virol. 2018 Aug;13(8):557-574. doi: 10.2217/fvl-2018-0033. Epub 2018 Jul 2.

Authors

Zhangmei Chang^{1

2

1

2}, Yan Wang^{3

3}, Xin Zhou^{1

1}, Jian-Er Long^{1

3

1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology of Ministries of Education & Health, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, PR China.
² Kunshan Center For Disease Control & Prevention, 458 Tongfengxi Road, Kunshan, Jiangsu, 215301, PR China.
³ Department of Medical Microbiology & Parasitology, Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, 138 Yixueyuan R., Shanghai 200032, PR China.

Abstract

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a transcription factor which can be activated by cytokines, growth factor receptors, and nonreceptor-like tyrosine kinase. An activated STAT3 translocates into the nucleus and combines with DNA to regulate the expression of target genes involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and metastasis. Recent studies have shown that STAT3 plays important roles in viral infection and pathogenesis. STAT3 exhibits a proviral function in several viral infections, including those of HBV, HCV, HSV-1, varicella zoster virus, human CMV and measles virus. However, in some circumstances, STAT3 has an antiviral function in other viral infections, such as enterovirus 71, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and human metapneumovirus. This review summarizes the roles of STAT3 in viral infection and pathogenesis, and briefly discusses the molecular mechanisms involved in these processes.

Keywords: JAK/STAT; STAT3; viral infection.

Publication types

Review