ISG15 Is Upregulated in Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection and Reduces Virus Growth through Protein ISGylation.

At present, no vaccine or effective treatment for human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is available. This study shows that interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) lowers RSV growth through protein ISGylation. In addition, ISG15 accumulation highly correlates with the RSV load in nasopharyngeal washes from children, indicating that ISG15 may also have an antiviral role in vivo. These results improve our understanding of the innate immune response to RSV and identify ISG15 as a potential target for virus control.