Abstract
The interferon-beta (IFN g ) gene is not inducible in neuronal cells in response to measles virus (MV) due to lack of nuclear factor kappa B (NF- s B) activation. NF- s B is normally sequestered in the cytoplasm by an inhibitor (I s B f ). Previously, the authors demonstrated that the failure to activate neuronal NF- s B by MV was due to the inability to phosphorylate and degrade its inhibitor, I s B f . Here the authors demonstrate that transient transfection of a brain cDNA library into neuronal cells restores the ability of MV to activate NF- s B. In addition, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF f ), but not interleukin-1 (IL-1) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), stimulation resulted in I s B f phosphorylation and degradation in two neuronal cell lines. These results indicate that failure of MV to activate neuronal NF- s B is due to a signaling defect and that MV utilizes an NF- s B signaling pathway distinct from that of TNF f , but may overlap with that for IL-1 and LPS.