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Journal of Virology, May 2006, p. 5021-5031, Vol. 80, No. 10
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.80.10.5021-5031.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Swathi Kotla,2,
Roger E. Bumgarner,1 and
Kurt E. Gustin2*
Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Washington,1 Department of Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83844-30522
Received 11 July 2005/ Accepted 5 February 2006
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B, interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3), and ATF-2, which in turn activate transcription from the IFN-ß promoter. Synthesis and subsequent secretion of IFN-ß activate the Jak/STAT signaling pathway, resulting in the transcriptional induction of the full spectrum of antiviral gene products. We utilized high-density microarrays to examine the transcriptional response to rhinovirus type 14 (RV14) infection in HeLa cells, with particular emphasis on the type I interferon response and production of IFN-ß. We found that, although RV14 infection results in altered levels of a wide variety of host mRNAs, induction of IFN-ß mRNA or activation of the Jak/STAT pathway is not seen. Prior work has shown, and our results have confirmed, that NF-
B and ATF-2 are activated following infection. Since many viruses are known to target IRF-3 to inhibit the induction of IFN-ß mRNA, we analyzed the status of IRF-3 in infected cells. IRF-3 was translocated to the nucleus and phosphorylated in RV14-infected cells. Despite this apparent activation, very little homodimerization of IRF-3 was evident following infection. Similar results in A549 lung alveolar epithelial cells demonstrated the biological relevance of these findings to RV14 pathogenesis. In addition, prior infection of cells with RV14 prevented the induction of IFN-ß mRNA following treatment with double-stranded RNA, indicating that RV14 encodes an activity that specifically inhibits this innate host defense pathway. Collectively, these results indicate that RV14 infection inhibits the host type I interferon response by interfering with IRF-3 activation. |
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Infection with many viruses leads to the activation of innate host defense pathways that results in the production of type I interferons (IFNs). This response requires the activation of the cellular transcription factors NF-
B, interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3), and ATF-2, which in conjunction with the transcriptional coactivator p300/CREB binding protein (CBP) activate transcription from the IFN-ß promoter (6). Secreted IFN-ß acts in an autocrine or paracrine fashion to amplify the response by binding to the type I IFN receptor and activating the Jak/STAT signaling cascade (reviewed in reference 40). Ultimately, this results in the production of IFN-
and a variety of immunomodulatory and antiviral proteins, including the RNA-dependent protein kinase and 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase, which significantly impede viral replication.
Infection with RV results in the transcriptional induction of a number of host gene products. For example, the cell surface receptors used by major- and minor-group RV, ICAM-1 and the low density lipoprotein receptor, respectively, are upregulated following infection (35, 49). In addition, a number of proinflammatory cytokines, including granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interleukin-8 (IL-8), IL-6, and RANTES, are induced following infection with RV (12, 41, 47, 51, 63, 64). Work from a number of laboratories has shown that induction of these gene products is due, at least in part, to the activation of NF-
B, which occurs following infection (22, 34, 35, 63, 64). Recently, it was reported that infection with RV type 16 (RV16), a member of the major-group rhinoviruses, results in activation of ATF-2 and production of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (18). Although these results indicate that RV infection activates both NF-kB and ATF-2, the status of IRF-3 in RV-infected cells has not been examined.
Analysis of supernatants from RV-infected HeLa cells did not reveal the presence of significant amounts of type I interferons, indicating that RV infection does not elicit a strong interferon response in the host cell (46). In contrast, Wark et al. showed that infection of primary bronchial epithelial cell cultures resulted in significant production of IFN-ß (56). In addition, microarray analysis of the host transcriptional response to both RV16 and RV1B (minor group) in primary bronchial epithelial cells revealed that a variety of interferon-stimulated genes were upregulated following infection (9). Interestingly, this response could be reduced with neutralizing antibody to IFN-ß, suggesting that RV induces a type I interferon response (9). However, the observation that only 5% of the cells in these cultures were infected makes it difficult to ascertain whether these results represent the transcriptional response of infected or uninfected cells (9).
Here, using RV14 as a model serotype, we examined the type I interferon response and status of IRF-3 in infected HeLa and A549 cells. Our results indicate that RV14 infection does not induce high levels of IFN-ß mRNA or an interferon response in these cell types. We also found that IRF-3 translocates to the nucleus and appears to be phosphorylated following infection. Interestingly, however, very little IRF-3 homodimer was detected in RV-infected cells. These data suggest that RV14 infection inhibits the type I interferon response pathway by preventing the formation of functional IRF-3 complexes.
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RNA isolation. Mock-infected and infected cells were incubated at 32°C for the indicated amounts of time, and total RNA was prepared using the RNeasy midi kit (QIAGEN Inc., Valencia, Calif.) as described by the manufacturer. The quality and integrity of RNA were assessed, using denaturing agarose gel electrophoresis. For isolation of RNA from RV14-infected cells, three independent infections were performed and RNA was isolated at 1, 3, and 5 h postinfection (hpi). A single set of reference RNAs was prepared from mock-infected cells at 1-, 3-, and 5-h time points. To examine transcript levels at later times, RNA was extracted from mock- and RV14-infected HeLa cells at 7 hpi.
Microarray analysis. The preparation and hybridization of cRNA to Affymetrix U133A chips were performed according to the standard protocol described by Affymetrix (www.affymetrix.com). MAS5.0 data analysis was performed on each chip, and the results were fed to a quality control macro in Microsoft Excel to calculate the noise (average value, 4.2 ± 1.4), the background signal level (average value, 81.7 ± 18.4), the percent present calls (average value, 45.7% ± 2.4), the average signal level for all probe sets (average across all chips, 378.5 ± 12.6), the Actin 3'/5' signal ratio (average value, 1.08 ± 0.08), and the GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) 3'/5' signal ratio (average value, 0.89 ± 0.06). Detailed quality control information for each chip is available on our supplemental website (http://expression.washington.edu/HVEC).
For statistical analysis, cell intensity (CEL) files were imported into the Affymetrix MAS5 program, and text files were generated for all the samples that were exported into SpotFire. The P value for each gene on U133A chips at 1, 3, or 5 h postinfection was generated by comparing the triplicate mock-infected samples with the triplicate RV14-infected samples, using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) at each time point.
Functional annotation of differentially expressed genes by GoMiner in the context of Gene Ontology. The biological functions of differentially regulated genes were analyzed using GoMiner in the context of Gene Ontology (GO) (http://discover.nci.nih.gov/gominer). GoMiner takes as input two lists of genes: the total set on the array and the subset that the user defines as changed in expression levels. The program uses the two-sided Fisher's exact test to analyze the enrichment or depletion of a gene category in the changed-gene list relative to the number of genes that belong to the category on the U133A chip, and a P value is assigned to each category in the changed gene list.
Collection and processing of published microarray data.
We have collected microarray data on cells infected with different viruses from a variety of published sources. All of the data we have collected are available at http://expression.washington.edu/HVEC. The following data are used in the comparison study in this paper: the Affymetrix U95A chip data from human foreskin fibroblast cells treated with IFN-
for 6 h (8) and human lung epithelial A549 cells infected with the A2 strain of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (62).
The CEL files associated with Affymetrix U95A chip data were imported into the Resolver program, the replicate samples were combined, and ratio experiments were generated. The Affymetrix Id (identifier), change (n-fold), and P value for each gene on the U95A chips were exported into SpotFire for comparison studies. To compare gene expression across array platforms, the Affymetrix Ids for all the genes in U133A and U95A gene chips were converted into a common type of gene identifier, HUGO names by MatchMiner (http://discover.nci.nih.gov/matchminer). Genes that belong to the GO terms, antiviral response, NF-
B cascade, chemokine activity, and Jak/STAT cascade were identified by GoMiner, and their expression was analyzed in SpotFire.
Fluorescent microscopy.
HeLa cells were seeded onto 12-mm-diameter coverslips, and 24 h later the cells were transfected with an IRF-3-green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression vector (24), using Lipofectin reagent as recommended by the manufacturer (Invitrogen). After 24 h, the cells were either mock infected or infected with RV14 at an MOI of 50. The coverslips were removed at the indicated times, fixed in 3% formaldehyde for 15 min at 25°C, washed three times in PBS, and permeabilized in methanol for 5 min at 20°C. The coverslips were then washed three times in PBS, incubated in blocking solution (2% bovine serum albumin, 0.05% Triton X-100 in PBS) for 30 min at 25°C, and incubated overnight at 4°C in primary antibody against NF-
B/p65 (sc:109; Santa Cruz Biotechnology). The coverslips were then washed three times in blocking solution, incubated for 1 h at 25°C in secondary antibody conjugated to Alexa Fluor 555 (Molecular Probes), washed two times in PBS, stained with Hoechst 33258 (0.2 µg/ml PBS), and mounted on glass slides with Vectashield mounting medium. The cells were viewed on a Nikon E1000M fluorescent microscope at a magnification of x100, and images were obtained using a Hamamatsu Orca 285 digital monochrome camera and Metamorph software (Universal Imaging).
For detection of subcellular localization of endogenous IRF-3, A549 cells were seeded onto coverslips and infected with RV14 as described above. The coverslips were removed at the indicated time points, fixed, and permeabilized in methanol-acetic acid solution (3:1) for 10 min at 25°C. IRF-3 was detected, using a rabbit polyclonal antibody (a kind gift from Takashi Fujita), and a secondary antibody was conjugated to Alexa Fluor 555 as described above.
Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The method used has been previously described (36). In brief, total RNA samples were treated with RNase-free DNase (Promega) and purified by RNeasy columns (QIAGEN). Total RNAs (1 µg) were reverse transcribed to cDNAs using reverse transcriptase from GIBCO-BRL, and 1/40 of the total cDNA volume was used in a SYBR green PCR assay (Applied Biosystems). PCR was performed on a Bio-Rad iCycler using the following protocol: first step, 95°C for 10 min; second step, 45 cycles at 95°C for 30 s, 60°C for 30 s, and 72°C for 30 s; third step, 72°C for 5 min. The threshold cycle (CT) for each sample equals 10 times the standard deviation of the PCR baseline for that sample (the PCR baseline was defined as the mean values from PCR cycles 2 to 10). The CT differences between the controls and the treated samples (triplicates) were calculated, and the final changes (n-fold) in transcript levels equaled 2x, where x is the difference in CT. All primers were designed using the Primer 3 program found at www.genome.wi.mit.edu and were purchased from QIAGEN. The primer sets used for IFN-ß are 5'-ACATCCCTGAGGAGATTAAGCA-3' and 5'-GCCAGGAGGTTCTCAACAATAG-3', for IL-8, 5'-ATTTCTGCAGCTCTGTGTGAAG-3' and 5'-TGTGGTCCACTCTCAATCACTC-3', and for GAPDH, 5'-GAACATCATCCCTGCCTCTACT-3' and 5'-ATTTGGCAGGTTTTTCTAGACG-3'. TaqMan rRNA control reagent (4308329; Applied Biosystems) was used for assaying the expression levels of rRNA according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Immunoblotting. HeLa cell lysates were prepared by scraping cells into PBS, followed by centrifugation at 200 x g for 5 min and resuspension in Tx lysis buffer (50 mM triethanolamine [pH 7.4], 500 mM NaCl, 0.5% Triton X-100, 1 mM dithiothreitol, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride) containing a protease and phosphatase inhibitor cocktail (item no. 539134 [Calbiochem] and item no. P2850 [Sigma]; final concentration, 1x). Following 20 min of incubation on ice, the lysates were centrifuged at 16,000 x g for 5 min, and the pellet was discarded. Protein quantification was determined using the Bio-Rad protein assay kit. Equal quantities of the protein were separated on sodium dodecyl sulfate-8% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) to examine ATF-2 and on 12% PAGE to examine IRF-3, followed by transfer to a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane (Millipore Corporation). Phosphorylated ATF-2 and total ATF-2 were detected using rabbit polyclonal and rabbit monoclonal antibodies, respectively (Cell Signaling). Rabbit polyclonal antibodies were used to detect IRF-3 (item no. sc-9082; Santa Cruz Biotechnology) and ß-actin (item no. ab8227; Abcam). Mouse monoclonal antibody MS3 was used to detect nucleolin (32). Antibody-antigen complexes were detected, using a horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody and chemiluminescence.
IRF-3 dimerization assay. Cell lysates were prepared by scraping cells into PBS, followed by centrifugation at 200 x g for 5 min and resuspension in native PAGE lysis buffer (50 mM Tris-Cl [pH 8.0], 150 mM NaCl, and 1% NP-40) containing a 1x protease and phosphatase inhibitor cocktail (item no. 539134 [Calbiochem] and item no. P2850 [Sigma]). Nondenaturing 7.5% acrylamide gels were prerun at a 40-mA constant current for 30 min in cathode and anode buffer at room temperature, and equal quantities of proteins were separated at a 25-mA constant current for 50 min at 4°C (19). Proteins were transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride membrane membranes at a constant current of 350 mA for 1 h at 4°C. IRF-3 monomers and dimers were detected, using rabbit polyclonal antibody (item no. sc-9082; Santa Cruz Biotechnology), followed by a horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody and chemiluminescence. Anti-rabbit antibody conjugated to Alexa Fluor 680 (item no. A-21076; Invitrogen) and anti-mouse antibody conjugated to IRDye 800 (item no. 610-132-121; Rockland) were used to quantify the IRF-3 monomer and dimer forms and nucleolin, respectively, on the Odyssey imager (LI-COR).
Poly(I:C) treatment. HeLa or A549 cells were seeded in 35-mm wells, and 24 h later, the cells were either mock infected or infected with RV14 at an MOI of 50. After 1.5 h, the cells were either treated with poly(I:C) or left untreated. For poly(I:C) treatment of HeLa cells, 100 µg/ml of poly(I:C) (item no. P0913; Sigma) was directly added to the media. For A549 cells,100 µg/ml of poly(I:C) was transfected into the cells, using 800 µg/ml of DEAE-dextran (item no. D9885; Sigma). After an additional 2.5 h of incubation, total RNA was extracted for quantitative real-time PCR or the cell lysates were prepared for immunoblot analysis.
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TABLE 1. Identification of enriched functional categories in the set of genes affected by rhinovirus infection
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RV14 infection fails to induce interferon-ß mRNA synthesis or activation of the Jak/STAT pathway.
Viral infection results in activation of the type I interferon response via the production of IFN-ß. Synthesis and subsequent secretion of IFN-ß then result in the activation of the Jak/STAT signal transduction cascade and activation of the full spectrum of type I IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs), thus creating an antiviral state (reviewed in reference 40). Prior work has shown that supernatants from RV14-infected HeLa cells do not provide protection against subsequent challenge with virus, indicating that infection by RV14 does not induce a strong IFN response (46). To determine if this was the case, genes known to be activated by type I interferons were examined. Figure 1A shows the host response to rhinovirus infection for several ISGs that are activated by the Jak/STAT signaling pathway. For comparison, we have included previously published data for these mRNAs obtained from cells treated with type I interferon (8). The results indicate that these ISGs were not induced following RV14 infection of HeLa cells and suggest that very little or no signaling through the Jak/STAT pathway occurs in RV14-infected cells. This is further illustrated by comparison with the transcription profiles of these genes in cells infected with RSV (62). RSV infection is known to result in the production of IFN-ß mRNA and protein and thus should activate expression of many ISGs (14, 20, 27). Analysis of the microarray data generated by Zhang et al. from RSV-infected A549 lung epithelial cells reveals that this is indeed the case (Fig. 1A) (62). This is in sharp contrast to the almost complete lack of induction of these mRNAs observed in RV14-infected HeLa cells. These results were not due to a defect in the Jak/STAT pathway in HeLa cells, as these cells are known to respond to IFN-
/ß treatment (15). These results suggest either that very little IFN-ß is produced or that signaling through the Jak/STAT pathway is blocked in RV14-infected cells.
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FIG. 1. RV14 infection of HeLa cells fails to induce a type I interferon response. (A) Comparison of microarray data for various ISG mRNAs from cells infected with RV14 for different periods of time (1, 3, 5, or 7 h postinfection), treated with IFN- for 6 h (IFN-6h) (8), or infected with RSV for 6 h (RSV-6h) or 12 h (RSV-12h) (62). (B) Raw intensities for IFN-ß mRNA, as calculated using MAS5 analysis software, from cells infected with RV14 for 1, 3, 5, or 7 h or with RSV for 6, 12, or 24 h (62). Note that the 7-h time point for RV14-infected cells is shown in both graphs to illustrate the different levels of induction in RV14- and RSV-infected cells.
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mRNAs on the U133A chip, and none of these were significantly up-regulated by RV14 infection (data not shown). These results indicated that RV14 infection did not result in the transcriptional induction of IFN-ß mRNA. As many viruses are known to inhibit this response by targeting essential transcription factors such as NF-
B, IRF-3, and ATF-2, we focused our attention on analysis of the status of these factors in RV14-infected cells.
Activation of IRF-3, NF-
B, and ATF-2 in RV14-infected HeLa cells.
Infection by many viruses results in the induction of type I interferon synthesis. This is thought to be due to the production of double-stranded RNA that in turn results in the activation of several transcription factors, including NF-
B, IRF-3, and ATF-2 (6). NF-
B and IRF-3 normally reside in the cytoplasm, but following infection by many viruses they are activated and rapidly accumulate in the nucleus (33, 60). ATF-2 is found in the nucleus at steady state, and activation requires phosphorylation on amino acids Thr69 and Thr71 (55). Following activation, these transcription factors bind to promoters of target genes and induce mRNA synthesis. To determine if RV14 might activate the type I interferon response, we examined the status of NF-
B, IRF-3, and ATF-2 in infected cells. Figure 2A shows that, as expected, NF-
B and IRF-3 were cytoplasmic in mock-infected cells and that this had not changed by 1.5 hpi. By 3 hpi postinfection, IRF-3 was predominantly nuclear, suggesting that it was activated following infection with RV14. Similarly, NF-
B was also translocated to the nuclei of cells by 3 hpi (Fig. 2A). This observation is in agreement with numerous reports that NF-
B is activated following rhinovirus infection (22, 34, 35, 63, 64).
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FIG. 2. Activation of NF- B, IRF-3, and ATF-2 in RV14-infected cells. (A) Nuclear accumulation of IRF-3 and NF- B. HeLa cells were transiently transfected with an IRF-3-GFP expression vector and were either mock infected or infected with RV14 and analyzed at 1.5 or 3 hpi. The panels labeled IRF-3-GFP show the localization of the IRF-3-GFP fusion protein, using a fluorescein isothiocyanate filter. The NF- B/p65 panels show the same field stained with antibodies to detect the p65subunit of NF- B, visualized using a tetramethyl rhodamine isothiocyanate filter. The DNA panels show the same field stained with Hoechst to reveal cell nuclei. (B) Phosphorylation of ATF-2. Whole-cell lysates (25 µg) prepared from mock-infected cells or cells that had been infected for the indicated amounts of time were analyzed by immunoblotting. ATF-2 was detected by sequentially probing the membrane, using antibodies that recognize the phosphorylated form of ATF-2 (phospho-ATF-2) and all forms of ATF-2 (Total ATF-2). The membrane was also probed with an antibody to nucleolin to show equivalent loading of protein lysates.
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B, IRF-3, and ATF-2 without detectable levels of IFN-ß mRNA. Phosphorylation and dimerization of IRF-3. IRF-3 plays a central role in activating the type I interferon response following viral infection. Consequently, many viruses are known to target IRF-3 to inhibit the type I interferon response pathway (2, 13, 26, 45, 50). Viral infection results in the phosphorylation of IRF-3 at specific serine residues in the C terminus (25, 57, 61). Phosphorylated IRF-3 forms a homodimer, translocates to the nucleus, and associates with the transcriptional coactivator p300/CBP prior to binding to target DNA elements and inducing transcription (48, 59). In view of this, we investigated the phosphorylation and dimerization status of IRF-3 in RV14-infected HeLa cells.
Work in other laboratories has shown that phosphorylation of IRF-3 results in the appearance of a slower-migrating form that is detectable by immunoblotting (25, 57). Analysis of lysates from RV14-infected cells revealed that a slower-migrating form of IRF-3 was detectable by 3 hpi and that by 7 hpi this was the predominant form of IRF-3 in infected cells (Fig. 3A). This slower-migrating band appeared to comigrate with the phosphorylated IRF-3 produced following poly(I:C) treatment (data not shown), suggesting that it did represent phosphorylated, activated IRF-3. It should be pointed out, however, that IRF-3 is phosphorylated at multiple sites in its C terminus in response to viral infection (25, 57, 61) and that, using our gel conditions, we were unable to resolve the different phosphorylated forms of IRF-3 that have been reported by others (44). Thus, there may be qualitative differences between IRF-3 in cells infected with RV14 and treated with poly(I:C).
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FIG. 3. Phosphorylation and homodimerization of IRF-3 in HeLa cells. (A) Phosphorylation of IRF-3. Whole-cell lysates prepared from mock-infected cells or cells that had been infected with RV14 for the indicated amounts of time were analyzed by immunoblotting. IRF-3 was detected by probing the membrane with rabbit polyclonal antibody that detects IRF-3. The nonphosphorylated form of IRF-3 is indicated with an arrow, and the phosphorylated form is indicated with an asterisk. The membrane was stripped and reprobed with an antibody to ß-actin to show equivalent loading of protein. (B) Homodimerization of IRF-3. Cell lysates prepared from mock-infected cells or cells that had been infected with RV14 or treated with poly(I:C) for the indicated amounts of time were analyzed by native PAGE, followed by immunoblotting to detect IRF-3. The monomeric and dimeric forms of IRF-3 are indicated.
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RV14 inhibits dimerization of IRF-3 in A549 cells. To further extend and confirm the biological relevance of these findings to RV14 pathogenesis, we have analyzed the status of IRF-3 and induction of the type I interferon response in RV14-infected A549 lung alveolar epithelial cells. First, we examined IFN-ß mRNA levels in RV14-infected A549 cells by qRT-PCR. The results demonstrate that RV14 infection fails to induce detectable levels of IFN-ß mRNA in A549 cells (Fig. 4A). Analysis of these same RNA samples revealed strong induction of IL-8 mRNA, as has been reported by others (47, 51, 63). As a positive control for induction of IFN-ß mRNA, we infected A549 cells with Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Infection with NDV results in an increase in IFN-ß mRNA levels of more than 25,000-fold over those of the mock-infected controls (Fig. 4B). These results indicate that infection of A549 alveolar epithelial cells with RV14 does not result in the accumulation of IFN-ß mRNA.
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FIG. 4. Expression of IFN-ß mRNA and IL-8 mRNA in RV14-infected A549 cells. (A) Total RNAs extracted from mock-infected or RV14-infected cells were analyzed by qRT-PCR. qRT-PCR data for IFN-ß (IFNß1) and IL-8 (IL8) mRNA are shown, with error bars indicating one standard deviation from the results from three replicates. Results for GAPDH are shown as a normalization control. (B) Total RNAs extracted from mock-infected or NDV-infected A549 cells for the indicated time were analyzed by qRT-PCR. IFN-ß, IL-8, and GAPDH mRNAs were examined as described for panel A.
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FIG. 5. Analysis of the status of IRF-3 in RV14-infected A549 cells. (A) Subcellular localization of IRF-3. A549 cells were either mock infected or infected with RV14 for the indicated amount of time and were analyzed by immunofluorescence assay. The IRF-3 panels show cells stained with a rabbit polyclonal antibody to detect IRF-3, using a tetramethyl rhodamine isothiocyanate filter. The DNA panels show the same field stained with Hoechst to reveal nuclei. The merged panels show overlays of the IRF-3 and DNA images. (B) Phosphorylation of IRF-3. Whole-cell lysates prepared from mock-infected cells or cells that had been infected with RV14 for the indicated amounts of time were analyzed by immunoblotting. IRF-3 was detected by probing the membrane with rabbit polyclonal antibody that detects human IRF-3. The nonphosphorylated form of IRF-3 is indicated with an arrow, and the phosphorylated form is indicated with an asterisk. The membrane was stripped and reprobed with an antibody to ß-actin to show equivalent loading of protein lysates. (C) Homodimerization of IRF-3. Cell lysates prepared from mock-infected cells or cells that had been infected with RV14 or treated with poly(I:C) for the indicated amounts of time were analyzed by native PAGE, followed by immunoblotting to detect IRF-3. The monomeric and dimeric forms of IRF-3 are indicated.
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Inhibition of dsRNA response by RV14. Poly(I:C) is a synthetic analogue of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), as evidenced by the activation of IRF-3 and the induction of IFN-ß mRNA (37, 57, 61). Interestingly, Dodd and Kirkegaard found that infection with poliovirus inhibits the ability of cells to produce IFN-ß mRNA in response to treatment with poly(I:C) (11; K. Kirkegaard and D. Dodd, personal communications). In addition, Richtsteiger et al. reported that infection of cells with coxsackievirus B3 followed by poly(I:C) treatment resulted in 32% inhibition of IFN-ß mRNA induction compared to that in cells treated with poly(I:C) alone (38). To determine if infection with RV14 can similarly inhibit the induction of IFN-ß, HeLa cells were infected with RV14 and then treated with poly(I:C) at 1.5 hpi for an additional 2.5 h. qRT-PCR analysis of mock-infected HeLa cells treated with poly(I:C) for 2.5 h resulted in a 180-fold increase in IFN-ß mRNA levels (Fig. 6A). In contrast, qRT-PCR analysis of total RNA isolated from infected cells that had been treated with poly(I:C) revealed only a 37-fold induction of IFN-ß mRNA (Fig. 6A). This represents an 80% reduction in the levels of IFN-ß mRNA induction by poly(I:C) treatment in infected cells compared to those in uninfected cells (Fig. 6A). Similarly, comparison of IFN-ß mRNA induction by poly(I:C) in uninfected or RV14-infected A549 cells revealed that RV14 resulted in a 50% inhibition of IFN-ß mRNA levels (Fig. 7A). Conversely, RV14 infection did not interfere with the induction of IL-8 following poly(I:C) treatment in either HeLa or A549 cells (Fig. 6B and 7B). These results indicate that RV14 encodes a mechanism that can specifically prevent the induction of IFN-ß mRNA synthesis caused by poly(I:C) treatment.
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FIG. 6. Inhibition of the dsRNA response in HeLa cells. (A) IFN-ß mRNA levels. HeLa cells were either mock infected or infected with RV14 and then treated with poly(I:C) or not for the indicated amounts of time. Total RNA was isolated and analyzed by qRT-PCR for IFN-ß mRNA and normalized to levels of rRNA. Error bars indicate one standard deviation from the results from three biological replicates. (B) The RNAs described above were analyzed by qRT-PCR to determine IL-8 mRNA levels.
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FIG. 7. Inhibition of the dsRNA response in A549 cells. (A) IFN-ß mRNA levels. A549 cells were either mock infected or infected with RV14 and then treated with poly(I:C) or not for the indicated amounts of time. Total RNA was isolated and analyzed by qRT-PCR for IFN-ß mRNA and normalized to levels of rRNA. Error bars indicate one standard deviation from the results from three biological replicates. (B) The RNAs described above were analyzed by qRT-PCR to determine IL-8 mRNA levels.
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FIG. 8. IRF-3 homodimerization in cells treated with poly(I:C). Whole-cell lysates were prepared from cells that were either mock infected or infected with RV14 and then treated with poly(I:C) or not for the indicated amounts of time. Lysates were analyzed by native PAGE, followed by immunoblotting to detect IRF-3. The monomeric and dimeric forms of IRF-3 are indicated.
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Although early experiments by Stoker et al. demonstrated that tissue culture cells infected with rhinovirus produce little type I interferon (46), recent experiments indicate that this may not always be the case. Examination of primary bronchial epithelial cells from healthy individuals revealed that significant amounts of IFN-ß mRNA and protein were produced following infection with RV16 (9, 56). In contrast, very little IFN-ß was produced when bronchial epithelial cells from asthmatic individuals were infected with RV16 (56). Currently, it is not clear if the differences between the results presented here and those described above are due to differences between serotypes or to the use of primary versus immortalized cell lines. One interesting possibility is that HeLa and A549 cells may more closely reflect the environment found in bronchial epithelial cells from asthmatic individuals.
Dodd and Kirkegaard found that infection with poliovirus inhibits the ability of cells to produce IFN-ß mRNA in response to treatment with dsRNA (11; K. Kirkegaard and D. Dodd, personal communications). Recent work by Neznanov et. al (31) has provided a potential explanation for the lack of IFN-ß mRNA in poliovirus-infected cells. These authors found that during poliovirus infection the p65/RelA subunit of NF-
B is cleaved by the 3C protease. Thus, it is possible that targeted degradation of p65/RelA in poliovirus-infected cells may contribute to the inhibition of IFN-ß mRNA synthesis. This same study demonstrated that p65/RelA was targeted for degradation in RV14-infected cells, although levels of p65/RelA were not altered until 8 hpi (31). The results presented above, along with numerous prior studies documenting strong transcriptional induction of NF-
B-responsive promoters at early times in RV14-infected cells (22, 34, 35, 63, 64), suggest that inactivation of NF-
B cannot explain the lack of IFN-ß mRNA production in RV14-infected cells.
The importance of the type I interferon response in the host defense against viral infection is perhaps best illustrated by the variety of mechanisms viruses have evolved to counteract it. Interestingly, most of these mechanisms target early events in this response that prevent the activation of IRF-3 (3, 4, 7, 13, 26, 39, 54). In contrast, attenuation of this response following activation of IRF-3 is less common. Bunyamwera virus, a negative-stranded RNA virus, prevents the expression of IFN-ß mRNA despite the nuclear translocation of IRF-3 (23, 58). This requires the viral nonstructural protein, NSs, which has recently been shown to cause a general inhibition of mRNA synthesis by preventing phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II (52, 58). The microarray results presented here, along with work from a number of laboratories (12, 35, 41, 47, 49, 51, 63, 64), demonstrate that a variety of cellular promoters are activated in infected cells and indicate that RV14 infection does not result in a global inhibition of transcription.
Interestingly, it was recently reported that IRF-3 is translocated to the nucleus after infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-coV) (45). In this study, the authors found that the translocated IRF-3 did not form homodimers or associate with the transcriptional coactivator CBP. However, unlike what we observed in RV14-infected cells, IRF-3 was not phosphorylated in cells infected with SARS-coV (45). Thus, it appears that, while SARS-coV is able to prevent phosphorylation of IRF-3 and hence transcriptional activation, rhinovirus is able to prevent dimerization despite triggering phosphorylation. Similarly, infection with a naturally occurring noncytopathogenic variant of bovine viral diarrhea virus (ncpBVDV) has also been shown to inhibit IFN-ß mRNA synthesis, despite nuclear translocation of IRF-3 (2, 42). However, as phosphorylation and dimerization of IRF-3 in ncpBVDV-infected cells was not examined, it is unclear if RV14 and ncpBVDV inhibit IRF-3 activation by similar mechanisms.
By inhibiting dimerization, RV prevents the formation of the IRF-3 holocomplex consisting of dimerized IRF-3 associated with CBP/p300 and, thus, induction of IFN-ß mRNA. Currently, the mechanism by which RV14 prevents IRF-3 dimerization is not known. The C terminus of IRF-3 contains six serine residues that are potential sites of phosphorylation (25, 57, 61). These serine residues can be grouped into two clusters: S385/386 and S396/398/402/405. Servant et al. showed that S396 was phosphorylated in response to Sendai virus infection and treatment with dsRNA (43). More recently, it was found that, following infection with Newcastle disease virus, only the dimeric form of IRF-3 was phosphorylated at S386 and that mutation of this residue abolished dimerization (30). Our analysis of IRF-3 did not allow us to distinguish between phosphorylation at one or both of these sites in RV14-infected cells. Thus, one possibility is that RV14 selectively inhibits phosphorylation of certain residues while allowing phosphorylation of others. If this scenario is correct, then it seems likely that phosphorylation of S386 is inhibited due to its requirement for dimerization (30). Experiments are under way to further delineate the mechanism(s) by which RV14 inhibits IRF-3 homodimerization and to identify the viral factor(s) responsible.
K.E.G. was supported by NIH grants from the NCRR Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (P20 RR15587) and Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network program (P20 RR016454). R.E.B. and T.P. are supported by NIH NIAID grant 5P01AI052106. R.E.B.'s bioinformatics infrastructure study is supported by NIH NCRR grant 1S10RR019423.
These authors contributed equally to this work. ![]()
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