scholarly journals Selective inactivation of USP18 isopeptidase activity in vivo enhances ISG15 conjugation and viral resistance

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 1577-1582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Ketscher ◽  
Ronny Hannß ◽  
David J. Morales ◽  
Anja Basters ◽  
Susana Guerra ◽  
...  

Protein modification by the ubiquitin-like protein ISG15 is an interferon (IFN) effector system, which plays a major role in antiviral defense. ISG15 modification is counteracted by the isopeptidase USP18, a major negative regulator of IFN signaling, which was also shown to exert its regulatory function in an isopeptidase-independent manner. To dissect enzymatic and nonenzymatic functions of USP18 in vivo, we generated knock-in mice (USP18C61A/C61A) expressing enzymatically inactive USP18. USP18C61A/C61A mice displayed increased levels of ISG15 conjugates, validating that USP18 is a major ISG15 isopeptidase in vivo. Unlike USP18−/− mice, USP18C61A/C61A animals did not exhibit morphological abnormalities, fatal IFN hypersensitivity, or increased lethality, clearly showing that major USP18 functions are unrelated to its protease activity. Strikingly, elevated ISGylation in USP18C61A/C61A mice was accompanied by increased viral resistance against vaccinia virus and influenza B virus infections. Enhanced resistance upon influenza B infection in USP18C61A/C61A mice was completely reversed in USP18C61A/C61A mice, which additionally lack ISG15, providing evidence that the observed reduction in viral titers is ISG15 dependent. These results suggest that increasing ISGylation by specific inhibition of USP18 protease activity could constitute a promising antiviral strategy with only a minimal risk of severe adverse effects.

2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (21) ◽  
pp. 10580-10590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Hai ◽  
Luis Martínez-Sobrido ◽  
Kathryn A. Fraser ◽  
Juan Ayllon ◽  
Adolfo García-Sastre ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Type B influenza viruses can cause substantial morbidity and mortality in the population, and vaccination remains by far the best means of protection against infections with these viruses. Here, we report the construction of mutant influenza B viruses for potential use as improved live-virus vaccine candidates. Employing reverse genetics, we altered the NS1 gene, which encodes a type I interferon (IFN) antagonist. The resulting NS1 mutant viruses induced IFN and, as a consequence, were found to be attenuated in vitro and in vivo. The absence of pathogenicity of the NS1 mutants in both BALB/c and C57BL/6 PKR−/− mice was confirmed. We also provide evidence that influenza B virus NS1 mutants induce a self-adjuvanted immune response and confer effective protection against challenge with both homologous and heterologous B virus strains in mice.


Blood ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (11) ◽  
pp. 1330-1330
Author(s):  
David N. Haylock ◽  
Genevieve A. Whitty ◽  
Brenda Williams ◽  
Melonie J. Storan ◽  
Susie K. Nilsson

Abstract Osteoblasts are a key cellular component of the hemopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche and directly regulate the HSC pool. Molecules synthesised by osteoblasts both promote or inhibit HSC proliferation. Osteopontin (Opn) is an osteoblast produced, RGD containing protein with roles in cell adhesion and migration. Until recently, the role of Opn in hemopoiesis was seen as restricted to the regulation of bone turnover. However, from analysis of hemopoiesis in the Opn null mouse, we have demonstrated that Opn plays a critical role in regulating the HSC pool. Furthermore Opn is critical in trans-marrow migration and lodgement of HSC within the BM after transplantation. When added to in vitro HSC cultures, exogenous thrombin-cleaved Opn also inhibits cell proliferation and potently suppresses HSC differentiation. We have now demonstrated that this interaction occurs in an RGD-independent manner via the cryptic SVVYGLR epitope revealed on the N-terminal fragment of Opn following thrombin cleavage. This epitope has previously been shown to bind to α4β1 and α9β1. HSC are known to express α4β1, but we have now shown that within the HSC pool this occurs in a differential manner, mimicking that of CD38, with more committed CD34+CD38+ cord blood progenitors having the highest levels of expression. In addition, we have shown the previously unrecognised characteristic of human marrow and cord blood HSC, the expression of α9β1, which also occurs in a differential manner, but mimicking CD34. Expression of α9β1 is highest on cord blood CD34+CD38− cells, a population highly enriched for HSC. Using the synthetic SVVYGLR peptide in culture, we re-capitulated the thrombin-cleaved Opn induced suppression of HSC differentiation in a dose dependent manner. Antibody blocking experiments demonstrated that binding to this peptide was occurring through both α4β1 and α9β1. In contrast, suppression of HSC proliferation and differentiation did not occur through the upstream alternate α4β1 binding site. Furthermore, we have now demonstrated endogenous binding of Opn to α4β1 and α9β1 to cord blood HSC in vivo. Together, these data provide strong evidence that Opn is an important component of the HSC niche which acts as a physiological negative regulator. Furthermore, our studies identify the previously unrecognised characteristic of HSC, the expression of α9β1, which together with α4β1 provides two receptors on HSC with differing expression signatures and potentially a mechanism for fine tunning the physiological effects of Opn.


Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 897
Author(s):  
Stivalis Cardenas-Garcia ◽  
C. Joaquín Cáceres ◽  
Aarti Jain ◽  
Ginger Geiger ◽  
Jong-Suk Mo ◽  
...  

Influenza B virus (IBV) is considered a major respiratory pathogen responsible for seasonal respiratory disease in humans, particularly severe in children and the elderly. Seasonal influenza vaccination is considered the most efficient strategy to prevent and control IBV infections. Live attenuated influenza virus vaccines (LAIVs) are thought to induce both humoral and cellular immune responses by mimicking a natural infection, but their effectiveness has recently come into question. Thus, the opportunity exists to find alternative approaches to improve overall influenza vaccine effectiveness. Two alternative IBV backbones were developed with rearranged genomes, rearranged M (FluB-RAM) and a rearranged NS (FluB-RANS). Both rearranged viruses showed temperature sensitivity in vitro compared with the WT type B/Bris strain, were genetically stable over multiple passages in embryonated chicken eggs and were attenuated in vivo in mice. In a prime-boost regime in naïve mice, both rearranged viruses induced antibodies against HA with hemagglutination inhibition titers considered of protective value. In addition, antibodies against NA and NP were readily detected with potential protective value. Upon lethal IBV challenge, mice previously vaccinated with either FluB-RAM or FluB-RANS were completely protected against clinical disease and mortality. In conclusion, genome re-arrangement renders efficacious LAIV candidates to protect mice against IBV.


2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (10) ◽  
pp. 6050-6054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masato Hatta ◽  
Yoshihiro Kawaoka

ABSTRACT The NB protein of influenza B virus is thought to function as an ion channel and therefore would be expected to have an essential function in viral replication. Because direct evidence for its absolute requirement in the viral life cycle is lacking, we generated NB knockout viruses by reverse genetics and tested their growth properties both in vitro and in vivo. Mutants not expressing NB replicated as efficiently as the wild-type virus in cell culture, whereas in mice they showed restricted growth compared with findings for the wild-type virus. Thus, the NB protein is not essential for influenza B virus replication in cell culture but promotes efficient growth in mice.


Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Prokopyeva ◽  
Olga Kurskaya ◽  
Ivan Sobolev ◽  
Mariia Solomatina ◽  
Tatyana Murashkina ◽  
...  

Every year, influenza B viruses (IBVs) contribute to annual illness, and infection can lead to serious respiratory disease among humans. More attention is needed in several areas, such as increasing virulence or pathogenicity of circulating B viruses and developing vaccines against current influenza. Since preclinical trials of anti-influenza drugs are mainly conducted in mice, we developed an appropriate infection model, using an antigenically-relevant IBV strain, for furtherance of anti-influenza drug testing and influenza vaccine protective efficacy analysis. A Victoria lineage (clade 1A) IBV was serially passaged 17 times in BALB/c mice, and adaptive amino acid substitutions were found in hemagglutinin (HA) (T214I) and neuraminidase (NA) (D432N). By electron microscopy, spherical and elliptical IBV forms were noted. Light microscopy showed that mouse-adapted IBVs caused influenza pneumonia on day 6 post inoculation. We evaluated the illness pathogenicity, viral load, and histopathological features of mouse-adapted IBVs and estimated anti-influenza drugs and vaccine efficiency in vitro and in vivo. Assessment of an investigational anti-influenza drug (oseltamivir ethoxysuccinate) and an influenza vaccine (Ultrix®, SPBNIIVS, Saint Petersburg, Russia) showed effectiveness against the mouse-adapted influenza B virus.


2011 ◽  
Vol 92 (9) ◽  
pp. 2122-2132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Scott ◽  
Bo Meng ◽  
Anthony C. Marriott ◽  
Andrew J. Easton ◽  
Nigel J. Dimmock

Influenza A and B viruses are major human respiratory pathogens that contribute to the burden of seasonal influenza. They are both members of the family Orthomyxoviridae but do not interact genetically and are classified in different genera. Defective interfering (DI) influenza viruses have a major deletion of one or more of their eight genome segments, which renders them both non-infectious and able to interfere in cell culture with the production of infectious progeny by a genetically compatible, homologous virus. It has been shown previously that intranasal administration of a cloned DI influenza A virus, 244/PR8, protects mice from various homologous influenza A virus subtypes and that it also protects mice from respiratory disease caused by a heterologous virus belonging to the family Paramyxoviridae. The mechanisms of action in vivo differ, with homologous and heterologous protection being mediated by probable genome competition and type I interferon (IFN), respectively. In the current study, it was shown that 244/PR8 also protects against disease caused by a heterologous influenza B virus (B/Lee/40). Protection from B/Lee/40 challenge was partially eliminated in mice that did not express a functional type I IFN receptor, suggesting that innate immunity, and type I IFN in particular, are important in mediating protection against this virus. It was concluded that 244/PR8 has the ability to protect in vivo against heterologous IFN-sensitive respiratory viruses, in addition to homologous influenza A viruses, and that it acts by fundamentally different mechanisms.


2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jefferson J. S. Santos ◽  
Courtney Finch ◽  
Troy Sutton ◽  
Adebimpe Obadan ◽  
Isabel Aguirre ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Influenza B virus (IBV) is considered a major human pathogen, responsible for seasonal epidemics of acute respiratory illness. Two antigenically distinct IBV hemagglutinin (HA) lineages cocirculate worldwide with little cross-reactivity. Live attenuated influenza virus (LAIV) vaccines have been shown to provide better cross-protective immune responses than inactivated vaccines by eliciting local mucosal immunity and systemic B cell- and T cell-mediated memory responses. We have shown previously that incorporation of temperature-sensitive (ts) mutations into the PB1 and PB2 subunits along with a modified HA epitope tag in the C terminus of PB1 resulted in influenza A viruses (IAV) that are safe and effective as modified live attenuated (att) virus vaccines (IAV att). We explored whether analogous mutations in the IBV polymerase subunits would result in a stable virus with an att phenotype. The PB1 subunit of the influenza B/Brisbane/60/2008 strain was used to incorporate ts mutations and a C-terminal HA tag. Such modifications resulted in a B/Bris att strain with ts characteristics in vitro and an att phenotype in vivo. Vaccination studies in mice showed that a single dose of the B/Bris att candidate stimulated sterilizing immunity against lethal homologous challenge and complete protection against heterologous challenge. These studies show the potential of an alternative LAIV platform for the development of IBV vaccines. IMPORTANCE A number of issues with regard to the effectiveness of the LAIV vaccine licensed in the United States (FluMist) have arisen over the past three seasons (2013–2014, 2014–2015, and 2015–2016). While the reasons for the limited robustness of the vaccine-elicited immune response remain controversial, this problem highlights the critical importance of continued investment in LAIV development and creates an opportunity to improve current strategies so as to develop more efficacious vaccines. Our laboratory has developed an alternative strategy, the incorporation of 2 amino acid mutations and a modified HA tag at the C terminus of PB1, which is sufficient to attenuate the IBV. As a LAIV, this novel vaccine provides complete protection against IBV strains. The availability of attenuated IAV and IBV backbones based on contemporary strains offers alternative platforms for the development of LAIVs that may overcome current limitations.


2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Li ◽  
Wenxia Ma ◽  
Huizhong Li ◽  
Ning Hou ◽  
Xuejun Wang ◽  
...  

Neddylation is a ubiquitination-like pathway that covalently conjugates NEDD8 to target proteins and involves in diverse cellular processes. Under stress conditions, NEDD8 forms a chain or mixes with ubiquitin to modify protein substrates in NEDD8 conjugating enzymes-independent manner (atypical neddylation). The functional consequence of atypical neddylation remains unexplored in any cell types including cardiomyocytes. Here we report that increased neddylated proteins were observed in desmin-related cardiomyopathic (DRC) mouse hearts, mouse hearts subjected to myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) and human failing hearts. In cultured cardiomyocytes, multiple cellular stresses induced atypical neddylation, which was attenuated by NUB1L overexpression but exaggerated by loss of NUB1L, revealing NUB1L as a negative regulator of atypical neddylation. Activation of atypical neddylation by forced expression of NEDD8 accumulated a proteasome surrogate substrate GFPu, while suppression of atypical neddylation by NUB1L overexpression enhanced the degradation of GFPu and a DRC-linking misfolded protein. NUB1L is necessary and sufficient to protect cardiomyocytes against proteotoxic stress-induced cell injury. In vivo, cardiac-specific overexpression of NUB1L (NUB1L-O/E) in mice dose-dependently reduced neddylated proteins and facilitated the degradation of the proteasome surrogate substrate. NUB1L-O/E mice displayed no discernible cardiac structural and functional abnormality at baseline, but exihibted reduced apoptotic cardiomyocytes, limited infarct sizes and preserved cardiac function in response to I/R. We therefore conclude that NUB1L suppresses atypical neddylation, enhances proteasome proteolytic function and protects against myocardial I/R injury. Targeting atypical neddylation could be a novel therapeutic strategy to treat cardiac ischemic cardiomyopathy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 295 (4) ◽  
pp. 1120-1141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiang-Yuan Li ◽  
Yue-Yi Wang ◽  
Tong Shao ◽  
Dong-Dong Fan ◽  
Ai-Fu Lin ◽  
...  

The NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is one of the best-characterized inflammasomes in humans and other mammals. However, knowledge about the NLRP3 inflammasome in nonmammalian species remains limited. Here, we report the molecular and functional identification of an NLRP3 homolog (DrNLRP3) in a zebrafish (Danio rerio) model. We found that DrNLRP3's overall structural architecture was shared with mammalian NLRP3s. It initiates a classical inflammasome assembly for zebrafish inflammatory caspase (DrCaspase-A/-B) activation and interleukin 1β (DrIL-1β) maturation in an apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase-recruitment domain (ASC)-dependent manner, in which DrNLRP3 organizes DrASC into a filament that recruits DrCaspase-A/-B by homotypic pyrin domain (PYD)–PYD interactions. DrCaspase-A/-B activation in the DrNLRP3 inflammasome occurred in two steps, with DrCaspase-A being activated first and DrCaspase-B second. DrNLRP3 also directly activated full-length DrCaspase-B and elicited cell pyroptosis in a gasdermin E (GSDME)-dependent but ASC-independent manner. These two events were tightly coordinated by DrNLRP3 to ensure efficient IL-1β secretion for the initiation of host innate immunity. By knocking down DrNLRP3 in zebrafish embryos and generating a DrASC-knockout (DrASC−/−) fish clone, we characterized the function of the DrNLRP3 inflammasome in anti-bacterial immunity in vivo. The results of our study disclosed the origin of the NLRP3 inflammasome in teleost fish, providing a cross-species understanding of the evolutionary history of inflammasomes. Our findings also indicate that the NLRP3 inflammasome may coordinate inflammatory cytokine processing and secretion through a GSDME-mediated pyroptotic pathway, uncovering a previously unrecognized regulatory function of NLRP3 in both inflammation and cell pyroptosis.


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