Cre-ERT mediated antiviral induction

In this work, we aimed at studying the impact of microRNAs on antiviral responses, using inducible deletion of one or two copies of Dicer1 (in Dicer-floxed x EsrCRE+ MEFs). Unexpectedly, we discovered that Cre-ERT activation by hydroxytamoxifen (OHT) alone, independent of Dicer1 deletion, had a strong impact on antiviral responses. These microarrays were performed on SV40 immortalized Dicer1 fl/fl EsrCRE+ MEFs, Dicer1 fl/wt EsrCRE+ MEFs, 96 h after initial OHT treatment, and SV40 immortalized Dicer1 wt/wt EsrCRE+ MEFs, Dicer1 wt/wt EsrCRE-neg MEFs (Wild Type MEFs), 48 h after initial OHT treatment. These analyses revealed the strong induction of several antiviral genes (Rsad2, Cxcl10...), following Cre-ERT activation. SV40 immortalized mouse embryonic fibroblasts from various genotypes were stimulated 24h with 500nM hydroxytamoxifen, and further expanded for 24 or 72h. Each sample was analyzed on Agilent-028005 SurePrint G3 Mouse GE 8x60K Microarray Each sample is in simplicate - no biological replicates; sample 1-4 were processed/analyzed on a different microarray slide to 5-8 (different day/operator)