Figure 2. Induction of IFN-β after WNV infection utilizes a different complement of IRF transcription factors in distinct cell types.
In macrophages and mDC, IFN-β is induced at least partially through IPS-1-dependent yet IRF-3 and IRF-7-independent pathways. In macrophages FN-β gene expression utilizes IRF-1 whereas in mDCs another transcription factor (possibly IRF-5) has a complementing role to IRF-3 and IRF-7. The smaller text size in the Figure suggests a subdominant role of these ancillary transcription factors compared to IRF-3 and IRF-7. In comparison, in epithelial cells and fibroblasts loss of IRF-3 and IRF-7 completely ablates IFN-β gene induction after WNV infection.