scholarly journals ETV7 limits antiviral gene expression and control of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather M. Froggatt ◽  
Alfred T. Harding ◽  
Brook E. Heaton ◽  
Nicholas S. Heaton

AbstractThe type I interferon (IFN) response is an important component of the innate immune response to viral infection. Precise control of interferon responses is critical; insufficient levels of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) can lead to a failure to restrict viral spread while excessive ISG activation can result in interferon-related pathologies. While both positive and negative regulatory factors control the magnitude and duration of IFN signaling, it is also appreciated that a number of ISGs regulate aspects of the interferon response themselves. However, the mechanisms underlying these ISG regulatory networks remain incompletely defined. In this study, we performed a CRISPR activation screen to identify new regulators of the type I IFN response. We identified ETS variant transcription factor 7 (ETV7), a strongly induced ISG, as a protein that acts as a negative regulator of the type I IFN response; however, ETV7 did not uniformly suppress ISG transcription. Instead, ETV7 preferentially targeted a subset of known antiviral ISGs. Further, we showed the subset of ETV7-modulated ISGs was particularly important for IFN-mediated control of some viruses including influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2. Together, our data assign a function for ETV7 as an IFN response regulator and also identify ETV7 as a therapeutic target to increase innate responses and potentiate the efficacy of interferon-based antiviral therapies.One Sentence SummaryETV7 is an interferon-induced, repressive transcription factor that negatively regulates antiviral interferon-stimulated genes essential for controlling influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 infections.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (691) ◽  
pp. eabe1194
Author(s):  
Heather M. Froggatt ◽  
Alfred T. Harding ◽  
Ryan R. Chaparian ◽  
Nicholas S. Heaton

The type I interferon (IFN) response is an important component of the innate immune response to viral infection. Precise control of IFN responses is critical because insufficient expression of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) can lead to a failure to restrict viral spread, whereas excessive ISG activation can result in IFN-related pathologies. Although both positive and negative regulatory factors control the magnitude and duration of IFN signaling, it is also appreciated that several ISGs regulate aspects of the IFN response themselves. In this study, we performed a CRISPR activation screen to identify previously unknown regulators of the type I IFN response. We identified the strongly induced ISG encoding ETS variant transcription factor 7 (ETV7) as a negative regulator of the type I IFN response. However, ETV7 did not uniformly suppress ISG transcription. Instead, ETV7 preferentially targeted a subset of antiviral ISGs that were particularly important for IFN-mediated control of influenza viruses. Together, our data assign a function for ETV7 as an IFN response regulator and also identify ETV7 as a potential therapeutic target to increase innate antiviral responses and enhance IFN-based antiviral therapies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 216 (11) ◽  
pp. 3535-3549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trinna L. Cuellar ◽  
Anna-Maria Herzner ◽  
Xiaotian Zhang ◽  
Yogesh Goyal ◽  
Colin Watanabe ◽  
...  

A propensity for rewiring genetic and epigenetic regulatory networks, thus enabling sustained cell proliferation, suppression of apoptosis, and the ability to evade the immune system, is vital to cancer cell propagation. An increased understanding of how this is achieved is critical for identifying or improving therapeutic interventions. In this study, using acute myeloid leukemia (AML) human cell lines and a custom CRISPR/Cas9 screening platform, we identify the H3K9 methyltransferase SETDB1 as a novel, negative regulator of innate immunity. SETDB1 is overexpressed in many cancers, and loss of this gene in AML cells triggers desilencing of retrotransposable elements that leads to the production of double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs). This is coincident with induction of a type I interferon response and apoptosis through the dsRNA-sensing pathway. Collectively, our findings establish a unique gene regulatory axis that cancer cells can exploit to circumvent the immune system.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlyn T. Hoffpauir ◽  
Samantha L. Bell ◽  
Kelsi O. West ◽  
Tao Jing ◽  
Sylvia Torres-Odio ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTTripartite motif-containing proteins (TRIMs) play a variety of recently described roles in innate immunity. While many TRIMs regulate type I interferon (IFN) expression following cytosolic nucleic acid sensing of viruses, their contribution to innate immune signaling and gene expression during bacterial infection remains largely unknown. Because Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a potent activator of cGAS-dependent cytosolic DNA sensing, we set out to investigate a role for TRIM proteins in regulating macrophage responses to M. tuberculosis. Here we demonstrate that TRIM14, a non-canonical TRIM that lacks an E3 ligase RING domain, is a critical negative regulator of the type I IFN response in macrophages. We show that TRIM14 physically interacts with both cGAS and TBK1 and that macrophages lacking TRIM14 dramatically hyperinduce interferon stimulated gene (ISG) expression following cytosolic nucleic acid transfection, IFN-β treatment, and M. tuberculosis infection. Consistent with a defect in resolution of the type I IFN response, Trim14 knockout (KO) macrophages have more phospho-Ser754 STAT3 relative to phospho-727 and fail to upregulate the STAT3 target Socs3 (Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 3), which is required to turn off IFNAR signaling. These data support a model whereby TRIM14 acts as a scaffold between TBK1 and STAT3 to promote phosphorylation of STAT3 at Ser727 and enhance negative regulation of ISG expression. Remarkably, Trim14 KO macrophages hyperinduce antimicrobials like Inos2 and are significantly better than control cells at limiting M. tuberculosis replication. Collectively, these data reveal a previously unappreciated role for TRIM14 in resolving type I IFN responses and controlling M. tuberculosis infection.


2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Martin Hyrcza ◽  
Mario Ostrowski ◽  
Sandy Der

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are innate immune cells able to produce large quantities of type I interferons (IFN) when activated. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients show generalized immune dysfunction characterized in part by chronic interferon response. In this study we investigated the role of dendritic cells inactivating and maintaining this response. Specifically we compared the IFN geneactivity in pDCs in response to several viruses and TLR agonists. We hypothesized that 1) the pattern of IFN gene transcription would differ in pDCs treated with HIV than with other agents, and 2) that pDCs from patients from different stages of disease would respond differently to the stimulations. To test these hypotheses, we obtained pDCs from 15 HIV-infected and uninfected individuals and treated freshly isolated pDCs with either HIV (BAL strain), influenza virus (A/PR/8/34), Sendai virus (Cantell strain), TLR7 agonist(imiquimod), or TLR9 agonist (CpG-ODN) for 6h. Type I IFN gene transcription was monitored by real time qPCRfor IFNA1, A2, A5, A6, A8,A17, B1, and E1, and cytokine levels were assayed by Cytometric Bead Arrays forTNF?, IL6, IL8, IL10, IL1?, and IL12p70. pDC function as determined by these two assays showed no difference between HIV-infected and uninfected patients or between patients with early or chronic infection. Specifically, HIV did notinduce type I IFN gene expression, whereas influenza virus, Sendai virus and imiquimod did. Similarly, HIV failed to induce any cytokine release from pDCs in contrast to influenza virus, Sendai virus and imiquimod, which stimulatedrelease of TNF?, IL6, or IL8. Together these results suggest that the reaction of pDCs to HIV virus is quantitatively different from the response to agents such as virus, Sendai virus, and imiquimod. In addition, pDCs from HIV-infected persons have responses similar to pDCs from uninfected donors, suggesting, that the DC function may not be affected by HIV infection.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena N. Judd ◽  
Alison R. Gilchrist ◽  
Nicholas R. Meyerson ◽  
Sara L. Sawyer

Abstract Background The Type I interferon response is an important first-line defense against viruses. In turn, viruses antagonize (i.e., degrade, mis-localize, etc.) many proteins in interferon pathways. Thus, hosts and viruses are locked in an evolutionary arms race for dominance of the Type I interferon pathway. As a result, many genes in interferon pathways have experienced positive natural selection in favor of new allelic forms that can better recognize viruses or escape viral antagonists. Here, we performed a holistic analysis of selective pressures acting on genes in the Type I interferon family. We initially hypothesized that the genes responsible for inducing the production of interferon would be antagonized more heavily by viruses than genes that are turned on as a result of interferon. Our logic was that viruses would have greater effect if they worked upstream of the production of interferon molecules because, once interferon is produced, hundreds of interferon-stimulated proteins would activate and the virus would need to counteract them one-by-one. Results We curated multiple sequence alignments of primate orthologs for 131 genes active in interferon production and signaling (herein, “induction” genes), 100 interferon-stimulated genes, and 100 randomly chosen genes. We analyzed each multiple sequence alignment for the signatures of recurrent positive selection. Counter to our hypothesis, we found the interferon-stimulated genes, and not interferon induction genes, are evolving significantly more rapidly than a random set of genes. Interferon induction genes evolve in a way that is indistinguishable from a matched set of random genes (22% and 18% of genes bear signatures of positive selection, respectively). In contrast, interferon-stimulated genes evolve differently, with 33% of genes evolving under positive selection and containing a significantly higher fraction of codons that have experienced selection for recurrent replacement of the encoded amino acid. Conclusion Viruses may antagonize individual products of the interferon response more often than trying to neutralize the system altogether.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krystal J Vail ◽  
Bibiana Petri da Silveira ◽  
Samantha L Bell ◽  
Angela I Bordin ◽  
Noah D Cohen ◽  
...  

Rhodococcus equi is a major cause of foal pneumonia and an opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised humans. While alveolar macrophages constitute the primary replicative niche for R. equi, little is known about how intracellular R. equi is sensed by macrophages. Here, we discovered that that in addition to previously characterized pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., Tnfa, Il6, Il1b), macrophages infected with R. equi induce a robust type I IFN response, including Ifnb and interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), similar to the evolutionarily related pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Follow up studies using a combination of mammalian and bacterial genetics, demonstrated that induction of this type I IFN expression program is largely dependent on the cGAS/STING/TBK1 axis of the cytosolic DNA surveillance pathway, suggesting that R. equi perturbs the phagosomal membrane and causes DNA release into the cytosol following phagocytosis. Consistent with this we found that a population of ~12% of R. equi phagosomes recruited the galectin-3, -8 and -9 danger receptors. Interesting, neither phagosomal damage nor induction of type I IFN required the R. equi's virulence-associated plasmid. Importantly, R. equi infection of both mice and foals stimulated ISG expression, in organs (mice) and circulating monocytes (foals). By demonstrating that R. equi activates cytosolic DNA sensing in macrophages and elicits type I IFN responses in animal models, our work provides novel insights into how R. equi engages the innate immune system and furthers our understanding how this zoonotic pathogen causes inflammation and disease.


Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 385
Author(s):  
Tae Hyun Kim ◽  
Colin Kern ◽  
Huaijun Zhou

Interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) is known as the master transcription factor of the type I interferon response in mammalian species along with IRF3. Yet birds only have IRF7, while they are missing IRF3, with a smaller repertoire of immune-related genes, which leads to a distinctive immune response in chickens compared to in mammals. In order to understand the functional role of IRF7 in the regulation of the antiviral response against avian influenza virus in chickens, we generated IRF7-/- chicken embryonic fibroblast (DF-1) cell lines and respective controls (IRF7wt) by utilizing the CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9) system. IRF7 knockout resulted in increased viral titers of low pathogenic avian influenza viruses. Further RNA-sequencing performed on H6N2-infected IRF7-/- and IRF7wt cell lines revealed that the deletion of IRF7 resulted in the significant down-regulation of antiviral effectors and the differential expression of genes in the MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) and mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) signaling pathways. Dynamic gene expression profiling of the host response between the wildtype and IRF7 knockout revealed potential signaling pathways involving AP1 (activator protein 1), NF-κB (nuclear factor kappa B) and inflammatory cytokines that may complement chicken IRF7. Our findings in this study provide novel insights that have not been reported previously, and lay a solid foundation for enhancing our understanding of the host antiviral response against the avian influenza virus in chickens.


2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatai S. Oladunni ◽  
Sanjay Sarkar ◽  
Stephanie Reedy ◽  
Udeni B. R. Balasuriya ◽  
David W. Horohov ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) is a viral pathogen of horse populations worldwide spread by the respiratory route and is known for causing outbreaks of neurologic syndromes and abortion storms. Previously, we demonstrated that an EHV-1 strain of the neuropathogenic genotype, T953, downregulates the beta interferon (IFN-β) response in vitro in equine endothelial cells (EECs) at 12 h postinfection (hpi). In the present study, we explored the molecular correlates of this inhibition as clues toward an understanding of the mechanism. Data from our study revealed that EHV-1 infection of EECs significantly reduced both Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) and TLR4 mRNA expression at 6 hpi and 12 hpi. While EHV-1 was able to significantly reduce IRF9 mRNA at both 6 hpi and 12 hpi, the virus significantly reduced IFN regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) mRNA only at 12 hpi. EHV-1 did not alter the cellular level of Janus-activated kinase 1 (JAK1) at any time point. However, EHV-1 reduced the cellular level of expression of tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) at 12 hpi. Downstream of JAK1-TYK2 signaling, EHV-1 blocked the phosphorylation and activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 2 (STAT2) when coincubated with exogenous IFN, at 12 hpi, although not at 3 or 6 hpi. Immunofluorescence staining revealed that the virus prevented the nuclear translocation of STAT2 molecules, confirming the virus-mediated inhibition of STAT2 activation. The pattern of suppression of phosphorylation of STAT2 by EHV-1 implicated viral late gene expression. These data help illuminate how EHV-1 strategically inhibits the host innate immune defense by limiting steps required for type I IFN sensitization and induction. IMPORTANCE To date, no commercial vaccine label has a claim to be fully protective against the diseases caused by equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1), especially the neurologic form. The interferon (IFN) system, of which type I IFN is of great importance, still remains a viable immunotherapeutic option against EHV-1 infection. The type I IFN system has been exploited successfully to treat other viral infections, such as chronic hepatitis B and C in humans. The current state of research on how EHV-1 interferes with the protective effect of type I IFN has indicated transient induction of type I IFN production followed by a rapid shutdown in vitro in equine endothelial cells (EECs). The significance of our study is the identification of certain steps in the type I IFN signaling pathway targeted for inhibition by EHV-1. Understanding this pathogen-host relationship is essential for the long-term goal of developing effective immunotherapy against EHV-1.


2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (17) ◽  
pp. 8465-8475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephane Daffis ◽  
Melanie A. Samuel ◽  
Mehul S. Suthar ◽  
Brian C. Keller ◽  
Michael Gale ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Type I interferon (IFN-α/β) comprises a family of immunomodulatory cytokines that are critical for controlling viral infections. In cell culture, many RNA viruses trigger IFN responses through the binding of RNA recognition molecules (RIG-I, MDA5, and TLR-3) and induction of interferon regulatory factor IRF-3-dependent gene transcription. Recent studies with West Nile virus (WNV) have shown that type I IFN is essential for restricting infection and that a deficiency of IRF-3 results in enhanced lethality. However, IRF-3 was not required for optimal systemic IFN production in vivo or in vitro in macrophages. To begin to define the transcriptional factors that regulate type I IFN after WNV infection, we evaluated IFN induction and virus control in IRF-7−/− mice. Compared to congenic wild-type mice, IRF-7−/− mice showed increased lethality after WNV infection and developed early and elevated WNV burdens in both peripheral and central nervous system tissues. As a correlate, a deficiency of IRF-7 blunted the systemic type I IFN response in mice. Consistent with this, IFN-α gene expression and protein production were reduced and viral titers were increased in IRF-7−/− primary macrophages, fibroblasts, dendritic cells, and cortical neurons. In contrast, in these cells the IFN-β response remained largely intact. Our data suggest that the early protective IFN-α response against WNV occurs through an IRF-7-dependent transcriptional signal.


Cytokine ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei-Bei Wang ◽  
Chien-Kuo Lee

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