MDA5/NF-kB Luciferase Reporter-HEK293T Cell Line

The MDA5 Luciferase Reporter cell line is a stably transfected HEK 293T cell line which expresses human melanoma differentiation-associated protein-5 (MDA5) and Renilla luciferase reporter gene under the transcriptional control of an NF-kB response element. As a dsRNA helicase enzyme, MDA5 is encoded by the IFIH1 gene. MDA5 is one of the RIG-I-like receptors (RLRs) that are a family of DExD/H box RNA helicases including MDA5, RIG-I and LPG2, which play a major role in pathogen sensing of RNA virus infection to initiate and modulate antiviral immunity. RLR expression is typically maintained at low levels in resting cells but is greatly increased during inflammation, specifically with IFN exposure and after virus infection. MDA5 detects cytoplasmic dsRNA generated during viral replication unlike Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) which can detect phagocytosed dsRNA in endosomes. MDA5 also responds to poly (I:C), the synthetic analog of viral dsRNA. The MDA5 activation by poly (I:C) is shown in Figure 1.