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.