Epidermal growth factor receptor
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) belonging to type I epidermal growth factor family, is widely distributed on the membrane surface of mammalian epithelial cells and fibroblasts (AB & RC, 2004). Importantly, EGFR-mediated signaling pathway plays an important role in cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, even viral infection. In this regard, the activation of EGFR occurring in the early stage of PEDV infection has been found in a recent study. Furthermore, this EGFR activation by PEDV infection may be mediated by the direct interaction between EGFR and the S protein, which in turn enhances PEDV infectivity. Mechanistically, the effect can be associated with the suppression of type I interferon antiviral activity following PEDV induced EGFR-STAT3 signaling pathway activation (Y. L et al., 2018), suggesting that PEDV can effectively utilize EGFR to inhibit cellular antiviral defenses. Despite these, more details about the events related to this signaling remains to be further elucidated.