Interferon-Induced Transmembrane Protein: A Moonlighting Protein Against SARS-CoV-2 Infection or in Support of Invasive Ductal Breast Carcinoma?

Abstract

The interferon-induced transmembrane proteins (IFITMs), widely acting against invading viruses are ubiquitously expressed on the cellular membranes, were previously known for their prominent role in tumorigenesis. Studies productively showed that the entry restriction on SARS-CoV spike glycoprotein agreeably involved the action of frontier IFITM1, 2 and 3. On the contrary, overexpression of IFITM3 has been reported in Invasive ductal breast carcinoma (IDC) tissue specimens where lentivirus-delivered shRNA resulted in targeted silencing of IFITM3 mRNA expression. Despite acting protective against virus infection, expression of IFITM favors cancer migration as seen in IDC. The existence of such a phenomenon wherein a choice is made by the selection pressure on IFITM allele frequency in human population between opposing roles of the protein, needs to be untangled.