Interleukin-11 (IL-11), a well-known anti-inflammatory factor, provides protection from intestinal epithelium damage caused by physical or chemical factors. However, little is known of the role of IL-11 during viral infections. In this study, IL-11 expression at mRNA and protein levels were found to be high in Vero cells and the jejunum of piglets during porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection, while IL-11 expression was found to be positively correlated with the level of viral infection. Pretreatment with recombinant porcine IL-11 (pIL-11) was found to suppress PEDV replication in Vero E6 cells, while IL-11 knockdown promoted viral infection. Furthermore, pIL-11 was found to inhibit viral infection by preventing PEDV-mediated apoptosis of cells by activating the IL-11/STAT3 signaling pathway. Conversely, application of a STAT3 phosphorylation inhibitor significantly antagonized the anti-apoptosis function of pIL-11 and counteracted its inhibition of PEDV. Our data suggest that IL-11 is a newfound PEDV-inducible cytokine, and its production enhances the anti-apoptosis ability of epithelial cells against PEDV infection. The potential of IL-11 to be used as a novel therapeutic against devastating viral diarrhea in piglets deserves more attention and study.

中文翻译：

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作为对猪流行性腹泻病毒感染的反应，白介素11的抗病毒活性。

白细胞介素11（IL-11）是一种众所周知的抗炎因子，可保护免受物理或化学因素引起的肠上皮损害。然而，人们对IL-11在病毒感染中的作用知之甚少。在这项研究中，发现猪流行性腹泻病毒（PEDV）感染期间，Vero细胞和仔猪空肠中IL-11的mRNA和蛋白水平高表达，而IL-11的表达与水平正相关病毒感染。发现用重组猪IL-11（pIL-11）预处理可抑制PEDV在Vero E6细胞中复制，而IL-11抑制可促进病毒感染。此外，发现pIL-11可通过激活IL-11 / STAT3信号通路来阻止PEDV介导的细胞凋亡，从而抑制病毒感染。反过来，STAT3磷酸化抑制剂的应用显着拮抗pIL-11的抗凋亡功能，并抵消了其对PEDV的抑制作用。我们的数据表明，IL-11是一种新发现的PEDV诱导型细胞因子，其产生增强了上皮细胞对PEDV感染的抗凋亡能力。IL-11用作仔猪破坏性病毒性腹泻的新型疗法的潜力值得更多的关注和研究。