scholarly journals Interferon Regulatory Factor 3 Supports the Establishment of Chronic Gammaherpesvirus Infection in a Route- and Dose-Dependent Manner

2021 ◽  
Vol 95 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. E. Johnson ◽  
P. A. Sylvester ◽  
C. N. Jondle ◽  
C. A. Aurubin ◽  
V. L. Tarakanova
Keyword(s):  
B Cells ◽  
Protein Kinase ◽  
Antiviral Activity ◽  
Chronic Infection ◽  
Acute Infection ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Regulatory Factor ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor 3

ABSTRACT Gammaherpesviruses are ubiquitous pathogens that establish lifelong infections and are associated with several malignancies, including B cell lymphomas. Uniquely, these viruses manipulate B cell differentiation to establish long-term latency in memory B cells. This study focuses on the interaction between gammaherpesviruses and interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3), a ubiquitously expressed transcription factor with multiple direct target genes, including beta interferon (IFN-β), a type I IFN. IRF-3 attenuates acute replication of a plethora of viruses, including gammaherpesvirus. Furthermore, IRF-3-driven IFN-β expression is antagonized by the conserved gammaherpesvirus protein kinase during lytic virus replication in vitro. In this study, we have uncovered an unexpected proviral role of IRF-3 during chronic gammaherpesvirus infection. In contrast to the antiviral activity of IRF-3 during acute infection, IRF-3 facilitated establishment of latent gammaherpesvirus infection in B cells, particularly, germinal center and activated B cells, the cell types critical for both natural infection and viral lymphomagenesis. This proviral role of IRF-3 was further modified by the route of infection and viral dose. Furthermore, using a combination of viral and host genetics, we show that IRF-3 deficiency does not rescue attenuated chronic infection of a protein kinase null gammaherpesvirus mutant, highlighting the multifunctional nature of the conserved gammaherpesvirus protein kinases in vivo. In summary, this study unveils an unexpected proviral nature of the classical innate immune factor, IRF-3, during chronic virus infection. IMPORTANCE Interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3) is a critical component of the innate immune response, in part due to its transactivation of beta interferon (IFN-β) expression. Similar to that observed in all acute virus infections examined to date, IRF-3 suppresses lytic viral replication during acute gammaherpesvirus infection. Because gammaherpesviruses establish lifelong infection, this study aimed to define the antiviral activity of IRF-3 during chronic infection. Surprisingly, we found that, in contrast to acute infection, IRF-3 supported the establishment of gammaherpesvirus latency in splenic B cells, revealing an unexpected proviral nature of this classical innate immune host factor.

scholarly journals Reprogramming Interferon Regulatory Factor Signaling in Cardiometabolic Diseases

Physiology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaxing Zhang ◽  
Hongliang Li
Keyword(s):  
Innate Immunity ◽  
Immune Responses ◽  
Immune Cells ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Innate Immune Responses ◽  
Regulatory Factor ◽  
Cardiometabolic Diseases ◽  
Evolutionarily Conserved

Interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) are evolutionarily conserved proteins expressed not only in immune cells but also in other tissues and organs outside the immune system. In this review, we discuss mechanisms responsible for IRF-mediated innate immune responses and the function and mechanism of IRFs in cardiometabolic diseases. We focus on the role of IRFs in innate immunity and cardiometabolic homeostasis, and highlight reprogrammed IRF signaling.

scholarly journals Neurotropic Arboviruses Induce Interferon Regulatory Factor 3-Mediated Neuronal Responses That Are Cytoprotective, Interferon Independent, and Inhibited by Western Equine Encephalitis Virus Capsid

2012 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 1821-1833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Peltier ◽  
Helen M. Lazear ◽  
Jocelyn R. Farmer ◽  
Michael S. Diamond ◽  
David J. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Interferon Regulatory Factor ◽  
Encephalitis Virus ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Regulatory Factor ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor 3 ◽  
Equine Encephalitis Virus ◽  
Western Equine Encephalitis Virus ◽  
Immune Pathways ◽  
Neurotropic Arboviruses ◽  
Western Equine Encephalitis

ABSTRACTCell-intrinsic innate immune responses mediated by the transcription factor interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3) are often vital for early pathogen control, and effective responses in neurons may be crucial to prevent the irreversible loss of these critical central nervous system cells after infection with neurotropic pathogens. To investigate this hypothesis, we used targeted molecular and genetic approaches with cultured neurons to study cell-intrinsic host defense pathways primarily using the neurotropic alphavirus western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV). We found that WEEV activated IRF-3-mediated neuronal innate immune pathways in a replication-dependent manner, and abrogation of IRF-3 function enhanced virus-mediated injury by WEEV and the unrelated flavivirus St. Louis encephalitis virus. Furthermore, IRF-3-dependent neuronal protection from virus-mediated cytopathology occurred independently of autocrine or paracrine type I interferon activity. Despite being partially controlled by IRF-3-dependent signals, WEEV also disrupted antiviral responses by inhibiting pattern recognition receptor pathways. This antagonist activity was mapped to the WEEV capsid gene, which disrupted signal transduction downstream of IRF-3 activation and was independent of capsid-mediated inhibition of host macromolecular synthesis. Overall, these results indicate that innate immune pathways have important cytoprotective activity in neurons and contribute to limiting injury associated with infection by neurotropic arboviruses.

scholarly journals Interferon Regulatory Factor 7 Attenuates Chronic Gammaherpesvirus Infection

2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. E. Johnson ◽  
C. A. Aurubin ◽  
C. N. Jondle ◽  
P. T. Lange ◽  
V. L. Tarakanova
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
Peritoneal Cavity ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Viral Reactivation ◽  
Type I ◽  
Regulatory Factor ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor 7 ◽  
Antiviral Role

ABSTRACT Gammaherpesviruses are ubiquitous pathogens that establish lifelong infections and are associated with a variety of malignancies, including lymphomas. Interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF-7) is an innate immune transcription factor that restricts acute replication of diverse viruses, including murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV68). Importantly, very little is known about the role of IRF-7 during chronic virus infections. In this study, we demonstrate that IRF-7 attenuates chronic infection by restricting establishment of gammaherpesvirus latency in the peritoneal cavity and, to a lesser extent, viral reactivation in the spleen. Despite the classical role of IRF-7 as a stimulator of type I interferon (IFN) transcription, there were no global effects on the expression of IFN-induced genes (ISGs) in the absence of IRF-7, with only a few ISGs showing attenuated expression in IRF-7-deficient peritoneal cells. Further, IRF-7 expression was dispensable for the induction of a virus-specific CD8 T cell response. In contrast, IRF-7 expression restricted latent gammaherpesvirus infection in the peritoneal cavity under conditions where the viral latent reservoir is predominantly hosted by peritoneal B cells. This report is the first demonstration of the antiviral role of IRF-7 during the chronic stage of gammaherpesvirus infection. IMPORTANCE The innate immune system of the host is critical for the restriction of acute viral infections. In contrast, the role of the innate immune network during chronic herpesvirus infection remains poorly defined. Interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF-7) is a transcription factor with many target genes, including type I interferons (IFNs). In this study, we show that the antiviral role of IRF-7 continues into the chronic phase of gammaherpesvirus infection, wherein IRF-7 restricts the establishment of viral latency and viral reactivation. This study is, to our knowledge, the first to define the role of IRF-7 in chronic virus infection.

scholarly journals Classical Swine Fever Virus Can Remain Virulent after Specific Elimination of the Interferon Regulatory Factor 3-Degrading Function of Npro

2008 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 817-829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Ruggli ◽  
Artur Summerfield ◽  
Ana R. Fiebach ◽  
Laurence Guzylack-Piriou ◽  
Oliver Bauhofer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Classical Swine Fever Virus ◽  
Nonstructural Protein ◽  
Classical Swine Fever ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor ◽  
Fever Virus ◽  
Regulatory Factor ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor 3 ◽  
Amino Terminal ◽  
Alpha Beta

ABSTRACT Pestiviruses prevent alpha/beta interferon (IFN-α/β) production by promoting proteasomal degradation of interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) by means of the viral Npro nonstructural protein. Npro is also an autoprotease, and its amino-terminal coding sequence is involved in translation initiation. We previously showed with classical swine fever virus (CSFV) that deletion of the entire Npro gene resulted in attenuation in pigs. In order to elaborate on the role of the Npro-mediated IRF3 degradation in classical swine fever pathogenesis, we searched for minimal amino acid substitutions in Npro that would specifically abrogate this function. Our mutational analyses showed that degradation of IRF3 and autoprotease activity are two independent but structurally overlapping functions of Npro. We describe two mutations in Npro that eliminate Npro-mediated IRF3 degradation without affecting the autoprotease activity. We also show that the conserved standard sequence at these particular positions is essential for Npro to interact with IRF3. Surprisingly, when these two mutations are introduced independently in the backbones of highly and moderately virulent CSFV, the resulting viruses are not attenuated, or are only partially attenuated, in 8- to 10-week-old pigs. This contrasts with the fact that these mutant viruses have lost the capacity to degrade IRF3 and to prevent IFN-α/β induction in porcine cell lines and monocyte-derived dendritic cells. Taken together, these results demonstrate that contrary to previous assumptions and to the case for other viral systems, impairment of IRF3-dependent IFN-α/β induction is not a prerequisite for CSFV virulence.

scholarly journals Distinct Functions of the Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase-activated Protein (MAPKAP) Kinases MK2 and MK3

2011 ◽  
Vol 286 (27) ◽  
pp. 24113-24124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Ehlting ◽  
Natalia Ronkina ◽  
Oliver Böhmer ◽  
Ute Albrecht ◽  
Konrad A. Bode ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Protein Kinase ◽  
Nuclear Translocation ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor ◽  
Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase ◽  
Regulatory Factor ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor 3 ◽  
Downstream Signaling ◽  
Enhanced Expression ◽  
Regulatory Effects

In LPS-treated macrophages, activation of STAT3 is considered to be crucial for terminating the production of inflammatory cytokines. By analyzing the role of MAPK-activated protein kinase (MK) 2 and MK3 for LPS-induced STAT3 activation in macrophages, the present study provides evidence that MK2 is crucial for STAT3 activation in response to LPS because it prevents MK3 from impeding IFNβ gene expression. Accordingly, LPS-induced IFNβ gene expression is down-regulated in MK2-deficient macrophages and can be reconstituted by additional ablation of the MK3 gene in MK2/3−/− macrophages. This is in contrast to LPS-induced IL-10 expression, which essentially requires the presence of MK2. Further analysis of downstream signaling events involved in the transcriptional regulation of IFNβ gene expression suggests that, in the absence of MK2, MK3 impairs interferon regulatory factor 3 protein expression and activation and inhibits nuclear translocation of p65. This inhibition of p65 nuclear translocation coincides with enhanced expression and delayed degradation of IκBβ, whereas expression of IκBα mRNA and protein is impaired in the absence of MK2. The observation that siRNA directed against IκBβ is able to reconstitute IκBα expression in MK2−/− macrophages suggests that enhanced expression and delayed degradation of IκBβ and impaired NFκB-dependent IκBα expression are functionally linked. In summary, evidence is provided that MK2 regulates LPS-induced IFNβ expression and downstream STAT3 activation as it restrains MK3 from mediating negative regulatory effects on NFκB- and interferon regulatory factor 3-dependent LPS signaling.

scholarly journals Vpu Mediates Depletion of Interferon Regulatory Factor 3 during HIV Infection by a Lysosome-Dependent Mechanism

2012 ◽  
Vol 86 (16) ◽  
pp. 8367-8374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian P. Doehle ◽  
Kristina Chang ◽  
Arjun Rustagi ◽  
John McNevin ◽  
M. Juliana McElrath ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Productive Infection ◽  
Type I ◽  
Regulatory Factor ◽  
Interferon Regulatory Factor 3 ◽  
Antiviral Immune Response ◽  
Immune Defenses

HIV has evolved sophisticated mechanisms to avoid restriction by intracellular innate immune defenses that otherwise serve to control acute viral infection and virus dissemination. Innate defenses are triggered when pattern recognition receptor (PRR) proteins of the host cell engage pathogen-associated molecule patterns (PAMPs) present in viral products. Interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) plays a central role in PRR signaling of innate immunity to drive the expression of type I interferon (IFN) and interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), including a variety of HIV restriction factors, that serve to limit viral replication directly and/or program adaptive immunity. Productive infection of T cells by HIV is dependent upon the targeted proteolysis of IRF3 that occurs through a virus-directed mechanism that results in suppression of innate immune defenses. However, the mechanisms by which HIV controls innate immune signaling and IRF3 function are not defined. Here, we examined the innate immune response induced by HIV strains identified through their differential control of PRR signaling. We identified viruses that, unlike typical circulating HIV strains, lack the ability to degrade IRF3. Our studies show that IRF3 regulation maps specifically to the HIV accessory protein Vpu. We define a molecular interaction between Vpu and IRF3 that redirects IRF3 to the endolysosome for proteolytic degradation, thus allowing HIV to avoid the innate antiviral immune response. Our studies reveal that Vpu is an important IRF3 regulator that supports acute HIV infection through innate immune suppression. These observations define the Vpu-IRF3 interface as a novel target for therapeutic strategies aimed at enhancing the immune response to HIV.

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