Toll-like receptor
A study conducted by Modhiran et al. attempted to explain how non-neutralizing antibodies down-regulate the immune response in the host cell through the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway. Toll-like receptors are known to recognize extra- and intracellular viral particles and to be a major basis of the cytokines' production. In vitro experiments showed that the inflammatory cytokines and type 1 interferon production were reduced when the ADE-dengue virus complex bound to the Fc receptor of THP-1 cells. This can be explained by both a decrease of Toll-like receptor production and a modification of its signaling pathway. On one hand, an unknown protein induced by the stimulated Fc receptor reduces Toll-like receptor transcription and translation, which reduces the capacity of the cell to detect viral proteins. On the other hand, many proteins (TRIF, TRAF6, TRAM, TIRAP, IKKα, TAB1, TAB2, NF-κB complex) involved in the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway are down-regulated, which led to a decrease in cytokine production. Two of them, TRIF and TRAF6, are respectively down-regulated by 2 proteins SARM and TANK up-regulated by the stimulated Fc receptors.