scholarly journals Interferon lambda signals in maternal tissues to exert protective and pathologic effects in a gestational-stage dependent manner

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Casazza ◽  
Drake T Philip ◽  
Helen M. Lazear

Interferon lambda (IFN-λ, type III IFN) is constitutively secreted from human placental cells in culture and reduces Zika virus (ZIKV) transplacental transmission in mice. However, the roles of IFN-λ during healthy pregnancy and in restricting congenital infection remain unclear. Here we used mice lacking the IFN-λ receptor (Ifnlr1-/-) to generate pregnancies lacking either maternal or fetal IFN-λ responsiveness and found that the antiviral effect of IFN-λ resulted from signaling exclusively in maternal tissues. This protective effect depended on gestational stage, as infection earlier in pregnancy (E7 rather than E9) resulted in enhanced transplacental transmission of ZIKV. In Ifnar1-/- dams, which sustain robust ZIKV infection, maternal IFN-λ signaling caused fetal resorption and intrauterine growth restriction. Pregnancy pathology elicited by poly(I:C) treatment also was mediated by maternal IFN-λ signaling, specifically in maternal leukocytes, and also occurred in a gestational stage-dependent manner. These findings identify an unexpected effect of IFN-λ signaling specifically in maternal (rather than placental or fetal) tissues, which is distinct from the pathogenic effects of IFN-αβ (type I IFN) during pregnancy. These results highlight the complexity of immune signaling at the maternal-fetal interface, where disparate outcomes can result from signaling at different gestational stages.

mBio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Szaniawski ◽  
Adam M. Spivak ◽  
James E. Cox ◽  
Jonathan L. Catrow ◽  
Timothy Hanley ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTMacrophages are susceptible to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection despite abundant expression of antiviral proteins. Perhaps the most important antiviral protein is the restriction factor sterile alpha motif domain and histidine/aspartic acid domain-containing protein 1 (SAMHD1). We investigated the role of SAMHD1 and its phospho-dependent regulation in the context of HIV-1 infection in primary human monocyte-derived macrophages and the ability of various interferons (IFNs) and pharmacologic agents to modulate SAMHD1. Here we show that stimulation by type I, type II, and to a lesser degree, type III interferons share activation of SAMHD1 via dephosphorylation at threonine-592 as a consequence of signaling. Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), a known effector kinase for SAMHD1, was downregulated at the protein level by all IFN types tested. Pharmacologic inhibition or small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of CDK1 phenocopied the effects of IFN on SAMHD1. A panel of FDA-approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors potently induced activation of SAMHD1 and subsequent HIV-1 inhibition. The viral restriction imposed via IFNs or dasatinib could be overcome through depletion of SAMHD1, indicating that their effects are exerted primarily through this pathway. Our results demonstrate that SAMHD1 activation, but not transcriptional upregulation or protein induction, is the predominant mechanism of HIV-1 restriction induced by type I, type II, and type III IFN signaling in macrophages. Furthermore, SAMHD1 activation presents a pharmacologically actionable target through which HIV-1 infection can be subverted.IMPORTANCEOur experimental results demonstrate that SAMHD1 dephosphorylation at threonine-592 represents a central mechanism of HIV-1 restriction that is common to the three known families of IFNs. While IFN types I and II were potent inhibitors of HIV-1, type III IFN showed modest to undetectable activity. Regulation of SAMHD1 by IFNs involved changes in phosphorylation status but not in protein levels. Phosphorylation of SAMHD1 in macrophages occurred at least in part via CDK1. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors similarly induced SAMHD1 dephosphorylation, which protects macrophages from HIV-1 in a SAMHD1-dependent manner. SAMHD1 is a critical restriction factor regulating HIV-1 infection of macrophages.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrissie Lim

Immune responses require the tight control of dose, location, strength and duration through genetic, epigenetic or biochemical regulation. Of these, the generation of alternatively-spliced constructs increases transcriptional and proteomic diversity in post-transcriptional modification, localization and functional domain integrity. Specifically, this thesis explores how splice variation engenders profound differences in the biological functions of interleukin-22 (IL-22) binding protein (IL-22BP) and interferon lambda 4 (IFNλ4), which are both central components of distinct cytokine pathways in mucosal immunity and inflammation. IL-22BP is a soluble receptor for IL-22 that is expressed as three isoforms in humans, though the physiological relevance of the three human isoforms has remained a mystery due to the absence of this variation in mice. We present novel findings that IL-22BPi1 is inactive due to intracellular retention by its unique exon, while IL-22BPi3 is also an antagonist but with differential activity from IL-22BPi2. Importantly, while IL-22BPi3 has widespread expression in steady-state homeostatic conditions, IL-22BPi2 is the only isoform induced by inflammatory TLR2/retinoic acid stimulation, highlighting important spatiotemporal control of the two isoforms that exploit their differential activities. IFNλ4 presents a different mystery in which the protein-coding variant is genetically associated with poorer clearance, but the mechanism for this association remains unclear. We investigated several non-canonical functions proposed by the field, including intrinsic differences in activity of the three protein isoforms and their interference with antiviral activites of other type I or III interferons. Establishing an overexpression system and purifying recombinant proteins, we found that only the full-length isoform is active and exhibits similar effects to canonical type III IFN IFNλ3, without any blockade of other IFN signaling. Simultaneously, functional IFNλ4 expression is suppressed in hepatocytes and dendritic cells through preferential splicing to increase intron retention and expression of inactive isoforms. Therefore, alternative splicing in IFNλ4 is an important mechanism to control IFNλ4 bioactivity. The divergent manners in which alternative splice forms impact the activity of both IL-22BP and IFNλ4 highlight the important contributions of this process to cytokine biology and bigger implications that escape detection by genomic analyses.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Lasfar ◽  
Walid Abushahba ◽  
Murugabaskar Balan ◽  
Karine A. Cohen-Solal

The discovery of the interferon-lambda (IFN-λ) family has considerably contributed to our understanding of the role of interferon not only in viral infections but also in cancer. IFN-λproteins belong to the new type III IFN group. Type III IFN is structurally similar to type II IFN (IFN-γ) but functionally identical to type I IFN (IFN-α/β). However, in contrast to type I or type II IFNs, the response to type III IFN is highly cell-type specific. Only epithelial-like cells and to a lesser extent some immune cells respond to IFN-λ. This particular pattern of response is controlled by the differential expression of the IFN-λreceptor, which, in contrast to IFN-α, should result in limited side effects in patients. Recently, we and other groups have shown in several animal models a potent antitumor role of IFN-λthat will open a new challenging era for the current IFN therapy.


Author(s):  
Wenjing Wang ◽  
Zhuo Zhou ◽  
Xia Xiao ◽  
Zhongqin Tian ◽  
Xiaojing Dong ◽  
...  

AbstractSARS-CoV-2 is the pathogenic agent of COVID-19, which has evolved into a global pandemic. Compared with some other respiratory RNA viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is a poor inducer of type I interferon (IFN). Here, we report that SARS-CoV-2 nsp12, the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), suppresses host antiviral responses. SARS-CoV-2 nsp12 attenuated Sendai virus (SeV)- or poly(I:C)-induced IFN-β promoter activation in a dose-dependent manner. It also inhibited IFN promoter activation triggered by RIG-I, MDA5, MAVS, and IRF3 overexpression. Nsp12 did not impair IRF3 phosphorylation but suppressed the nuclear translocation of IRF3. Mutational analyses suggested that this suppression was not dependent on the polymerase activity of nsp12. Given these findings, our study reveals that SARS-CoV-2 RdRp can antagonize host antiviral innate immunity and thus provides insights into viral pathogenesis.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin W.T. Chiang ◽  
Shangzhong Li ◽  
Benjamin P. Kellman ◽  
Gouri Chattopadhyay ◽  
Yaqin Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractViral contamination in biopharmaceutical manufacturing can lead to shortages in the supply of critical therapeutics. To facilitate the protection of bioprocesses, we explored the basis for the susceptibility of CHO cells, the most commonly used cell line in biomanufacturing, to RNA virus infection. Upon infection with certain ssRNA and dsRNA viruses, CHO cells fail to generate a significant interferon (IFN) response. Nonetheless, the downstream machinery for generating IFN responses and its antiviral activity is intact in these cells: treatment of cells with exogenously-added type I IFN or poly I:C prior to infection limited the cytopathic effect from Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), and Reovirus-3 virus (Reo-3) in a STAT1-dependent manner. To harness the intrinsic antiviral mechanism, we used RNA-Seq to identify two upstream repressors of STAT1: Gfi1 and Trim24. By knocking out these genes, the engineered CHO cells exhibited increased resistance to the prototype RNA viruses tested. Thus, omics-guided engineering of mammalian cell culture can be deployed to increase safety in biotherapeutic protein production among many other biomedical applications.


Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si Chen ◽  
Jin Tian ◽  
Zhijie Li ◽  
Hongtao Kang ◽  
Jikai Zhang ◽  
...  

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), caused by virulent feline coronavirus, is the leading infectious cause of death in cats. The type I interferon (type I IFN)-mediated immune responses provide host protection from infectious diseases. Several coronaviruses have been reported to evolve diverse strategies to evade host IFN response. However, whether feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) antagonizes the type I IFN signaling remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that FIPV strain DF2 infection not only failed to induce interferon-β (IFN-β) and interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) production, but also inhibited Sendai virus (SEV) or polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C))-induced IFN-β production. Subsequently, we found that one of the non-structural proteins encoded by the FIPV genome, nsp5, interrupted type I IFN signaling in a protease-dependent manner by cleaving the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) essential modulator (NEMO) at three sites—glutamine132 (Q132), Q205, and Q231. Further investigation revealed that the cleavage products of NEMO lost the ability to activate the IFN-β promoter. Mechanistically, the nsp5-mediated NEMO cleavage disrupted the recruitment of the TRAF family member-associated NF-κB activator (TANK) to NEMO, which reduced the phosphorylation of interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3), leading to the inhibition of type I IFN production. Our research provides new insights into the mechanism for FIPV to counteract host innate immune response.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. e1009366
Author(s):  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Qi Wang ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Zixiang Zhu ◽  
Yueyue Duan ◽  
...  

The negative regulation of antiviral immune responses is essential for the host to maintain homeostasis. Jumonji domain-containing protein 6 (JMJD6) was previously identified with a number of functions during RNA virus infection. Upon viral RNA recognition, retinoic acid-inducible gene-I-like receptors (RLRs) physically interact with the mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) and activate TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) to induce type-I interferon (IFN-I) production. Here, JMJD6 was demonstrated to reduce type-I interferon (IFN-I) production in response to cytosolic poly (I:C) and RNA virus infections, including Sendai virus (SeV) and Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). Genetic inactivation of JMJD6 enhanced IFN-I production and impaired viral replication. Our unbiased proteomic screen demonstrated JMJD6 contributes to IRF3 K48 ubiquitination degradation in an RNF5-dependent manner. Mice with gene deletion of JMJD6 through piggyBac transposon-mediated gene transfer showed increased VSV-triggered IFN-I production and reduced susceptibility to the virus. These findings classify JMJD6 as a negative regulator of the host’s innate immune responses to cytosolic viral RNA.


Blood ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 135 (22) ◽  
pp. 1983-1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicente Escamilla-Rivera ◽  
Jingchun Liu ◽  
David R. Gibb ◽  
Manjula Santhanakrishnan ◽  
Dong Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Polyclonal anti-D (Rh immune globulin [RhIg]) therapy has mitigated hemolytic disease of the newborn over the past half century, although breakthrough anti-D alloimmunization still occurs in some treated females. We hypothesized that antiviral responses may impact the efficacy of immunoprophylaxis therapy in a type 1 interferon (IFN)-dependent manner and tested this hypothesis in a murine model of KEL alloimmunization. Polyclonal anti-KEL immunoprophylaxis (KELIg) was administered to wild-type or knockout mice in the presence or absence of polyinosinic-polycytidilic acid (poly[I:C]), followed by the transfusion of murine red blood cells (RBCs) expressing the human KEL glycoprotein. Anti-KEL alloimmunization, serum cytokines, and consumption of the transfused RBCs were evaluated longitudinally. In some experiments, recipients were treated with type 1 IFN (IFN-α/β). Recipient treatment with poly(I:C) led to breakthrough anti-KEL alloimmunization despite KELIg administration. Recipient CD4+ T cells were not required for immunoprophylaxis efficacy at baseline, and modulation of the KEL glycoprotein antigen occurred to the same extent in the presence or absence of recipient inflammation. Under conditions where breakthrough anti-KEL alloimmunization occurred, KEL RBC consumption by inflammatory monocytes and serum monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and interleukin-6 were significantly increased. Poly(I:C) or type I IFN administration was sufficient to cause breakthrough alloimmunization, with poly(I:C) inducing alloimmunization even in the absence of recipient type I IFN receptors. A better understanding of how recipient antiviral responses lead to breakthrough alloimmunization despite immunoprophylaxis may have translational relevance to instances of RhIg failure that occur in humans.


mBio ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Harini Sooryanarain ◽  
Connie L. Heffron ◽  
Xiang-Jin Meng

ABSTRACT Hepatitis E virus (HEV), a single-strand positive-sense RNA virus, is an understudied but important human pathogen. The virus can establish infection at a number of host tissues, including the small intestine and liver, causing acute and chronic hepatitis E as well as certain neurological disorders. The retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) pathway is essential to induce the interferon (IFN) response during HEV infection. However, the pathogen-associated motif patterns (PAMPs) in the HEV genome that are recognized by RIG-I remain unknown. In this study, we first identified that HEV RNA PAMPs derived from the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the HEV genome induced higher levels of IFN mRNA, interferon regulatory factor-3 (IRF3) phosphorylation, and nuclear translocation than the 5′ UTR of HEV. We revealed that the U-rich region in the 3′ UTR of the HEV genome acts as a potent RIG-I PAMP, while the presence of poly(A) tail in the 3′ UTR further increases the potency. We further demonstrated that HEV UTR PAMPs induce differential type I and type III IFN responses in a cell type-dependent fashion. Predominant type III IFN response was observed in the liver tissues of pigs experimentally infected with HEV as well as in HEV RNA PAMP-induced human hepatocytes in vitro. In contrast, HEV RNA PAMPs induced a predominant type I IFN response in swine enterocytes. Taken together, the results from this study indicated that the IFN response during HEV infection depends both on viral RNA motifs and host target cell types. The results have important implications in understanding the mechanism of HEV pathogenesis. IMPORTANCE Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important human pathogen causing both acute and chronic viral hepatitis E infection. Currently, the mechanisms of HEV replication and pathogenesis remain poorly understood. The innate immune response acts as the first line of defense during viral infection. The retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I)-mediated interferon (IFN) response has been implicated in establishing antiviral response during HEV infection, although the HEV RNA motifs that are recognized by RIG-I are unknown. This study identified that the U-rich region in the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the HEV genome acts as a potent RIG-I agonist compared to the HEV 5′ UTR. We further revealed that the HEV RNA pathogen-associated motif patterns (PAMPs) induced a differential IFN response in a cell type-dependent manner: a predominantly type III IFN response in hepatocytes, and a predominantly type I IFN response in enterocytes. These data demonstrate the complexity by which both host and viral factors influence the IFN response during HEV infection.


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