Human Cytomegalovirus Immediate-Early 2 Gene Expression Blocks Virus-Induced Beta Interferon Production

Abstract
The effect of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) gene expression on beta interferon (IFN-β) expression was examined. We demonstrate that the HCMV immediate-early 2 (IE2) gene product IE86 can effectively block the induction of IFN-β during HCMV infection. IE86 also efficiently blocked the induction of IFN-β following Sendai virus infection, demonstrating that IE86's ability to block induction of IFN-β is not limited to HCMV infection, identifying IE2 as an IFN-β antagonist.