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. 2014 Mar 20;40(3):342-54.
doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2014.02.006.

Noncanonical NF-κB pathway controls the production of type I interferons in antiviral innate immunity

Jin Jin  1 , Hongbo Hu  1 , Haiyan S Li  1 , Jiayi Yu  1 , Yichuan Xiao  1 , George C Brittain  1 , Qiang Zou  1 , Xuhong Cheng  1 , Frédérick A Mallette  2 , Stephanie S Watowich  3 , Shao-Cong Sun  4
Affiliations

Noncanonical NF-κB pathway controls the production of type I interferons in antiviral innate immunity

Jin Jin et al. Immunity. .

Abstract

Production of type I interferons (IFN-I) is a crucial innate immune mechanism against viral infections. IFN-I induction is subject to negative regulation by both viral and cellular factors, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. We report that the noncanonical NF-κB pathway was stimulated along with innate immune cell differentiation and viral infections and had a vital role in negatively regulating IFN-I induction. Genetic deficiencies in major components of the noncanonical NF-κB pathway caused IFN-I hyperinduction and rendered cells and mice substantially more resistant to viral infection. Noncanonical NF-κB suppressed signal-induced histone modifications at the Ifnb promoter, an action that involved attenuated recruitment of the transcription factor RelA and a histone demethylase, JMJD2A. These findings reveal an unexpected function of the noncanonical NF-κB pathway and highlight an important mechanism regulating antiviral innate immunity.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. NIK deficiency potentiates antiviral immunity
(A–C) Age-matched (6–8 weeks old) WT and Map3k14−/− mice, bred to the Rag1−/− background, were infected i.v. with VSV (2×107 PFU per mouse). (A) Survival curves (n=12). (B) Tissue VSV titers on day 3 of infection. (C) Serum concentrations of IFN-α and IFN-β at 12 h of infection. Data are presented as mean ± S.D. of six animals. (D–E) WT and Map3k14−/− mice, bred to the Rag1−/−-Ifnar1−/− background, were infected i.v. with VSV (2×107 PFU per mouse). (D) Survival curves (n=6). (E) Tissue VSV titers on day 3 of infection. Data are presented as mean ± S.D. of six animals. (F) WT or Map3k14−/− primary MEFs were infected with GFP-expressing VSV (VSV-GFP) at a MOI of 0.1 for 24 hr. Data are presented as a representative picture, showing the infected (GFP+) and total (bright field) cells (left). The sacle bar indicated as length of 1000μm. The summary graph of flow cytometric quantification of the infected cells (right). Data are representative of 3 independent experiments, and statistical analyses represent variations in technical replicates. *P<0.05. See also Figure S1.
Figure 2
Figure 2. NIK negatively regulates IFN-I induction
(A and B) WT or Map3k14−/− primary MEFs were infected with VSV (A) or SeV (B). The relative mRNA amount and protein concentration were determined by QPCR and ELISA, respectively. Data are presented as mean ± S.D. (C) QPCR analysis of relative Ifna and Ifnb mRNA amounts in WT and Map3k14−/− MEF cells stimulated with Lipofectamine-transfected poly(I:C) (pIC) for the indicated time periods. (D–F) BMDMs derived from WT or Map3k14−/− mice were infected with SeV (D) or stimulated with LPS and poly(I:C) (E and F). Relative mRNA amounts (D and E) and protein concentration (F) of IFNβ were determined by QPCR and ELISA, respectively. (G) QPCR analysis of Ifnb mRNA expression in WT and NIKΔT3 BMDMs stimulated with LPS or poly(I:C). (H) QPCR analysis of Ifna and Ifnb mRNA expression in FLT3L-differentiated pDC (F-pDC) and cDC (F-cDC) cells and GM-CSF-differentiated cDC (G-cDC) cells stimulated as indicated. All QPCR data are presented as fold relative to the amount of an internal control, Actb. Data are representative of three-four independent experiments, and statistical analyses represent variations in technical replicates. *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. See also Figure S1.
Figure 3
Figure 3. NIK-dependent noncanonical NF-κB signaling negatively regulates IFN-I induction
(A) Immunoblot analysis of the indicated phosphorylated (P-) and total proteins in the cytoplasmic (CE) and nuclear (NE) extracts of WT and Map3k14−/− BMDMs stimulated with LPS.(B and C) Immunoblot analysis of the indicated proteins in the cytoplasmic (CE) and nuclear (NE) extracts of WT and Map3k14−/− MEFs infected with VSV or SeV (B) or stimulated with Lipofectamine-transfected poly(I:C) (C). (D and E) Immunoblot analysis of the indicated proteins in the cytoplasmic (CE) and nuclear (NE) extracts of Map3k14−/− (D), Nfkb2lym1/+ (E) or their WT control BMDMs stimulated with LPS and poly(I:C) as indicated. (F) QPCR analysis of Ifnb mRNA amounts (fold relative to the internal control Actb mRNA) of WT and Nfkb2lym1/+BMDMs stimulated with LPS and poly(I:C). *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. Data in all panels are representative of three independent experiments, and statistical analyses represent variations in technical replicates. *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. See also Figures S2 and S3.
Figure 4
Figure 4. M-CSF induces noncanonical NF-κB signaling
(A and B) Immunoblot analysis of the indicated proteins in the cytoplasmic (CE) and nuclear (NE) extracts of bone marrow (BM) cells or M-CSF-induced BMDMs (BMM) from WT and Map3k14−/− mice. (C) Immunoblot analysis of the indicated proteins in whole-cell lysates of WT or Map3k14−/− bone marrow cells stimulated with M-CSF for the indicated time points. (D) Bone marrow cells were stimulated with M-CSF in the presence of the proteasome inhibitor MG132. TRAF2 and TRAF3 were immunoprecipitated from denatured cell lysates, and ubiquitinated TRAF2 and TRAF3 was detected by immunoblot using an antibody detecting K48-linked polyubiquitin chains. (E) WT bone marrow cells were stimulated with M-CSF in the presence of the proteasome inhibitor MG132. Whole-cell lysates were subjected to M-CSFR IP followed by detecting MCSFR-associated TRAF2 and TRAF3 by IB (top two panels). Cell lysates were also directly subjected to direct IB (lower four panels). (F) Immunoblot analysis of the indicated proteins in the cytoplasmic (CE) and nuclear (NE) extracts of FLT3L or GM-CSF generated dendritc cells from WT and Map3k14−/− mice. (G) D2SC/1 dendritic cell line constituted with FLT3 (D2SC/1-FLT3) was stimulated with GM-CSF or FLT3L as indicated and subjected to immunoblot analyses. Data in all panels are representative of two-three independent experiments. See also Figure S4.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Noncanonical NF-κB members suppress IFN-I induction
(A) Immunoblot analysis of the indicated proteins in the cytoplasmic (CE) and nuclear (NE) extracts of WT or Nfkb2xdr/xdr BMDMs stimulated with LPS and poly(I:C). (B) QPCR analysis of relative amounts of Ifnb mRNAs (fold of the internal control Actb mRNA) in the WT and Nfkb2xdr/xdr BMDMs stimulated with LPS and poly(I:C) (pIC). (C and D) QPCR analysis of relative amounts of Ifnb mRNA in xdr/xdr and WT control MEFs (C) or Relb−/− and WT control MEFs (D) stimulated with Lipofectamine-transfected poly(I:C). (E) HEK293 cells were transfected with an Ifnb-luciferase reporter plasmid in the presence (+) or absence (−) of the indicated empty vector or expression plasmids. Luciferase assays were performed as fold based on empty vector group 36 h after transfection. (F and G) Nfkb2xdr/xdr MEFs were reconstituted with GFP, p100, p52 and p100SSAA. The cells were either not treated (NT) or stimulated with Lipofectamine-transfected poly(I:C) and subjected QPCR (F) or IB (G) analysis. Data in all panels are representative of 2–3 independent experiments, and statistical analyses represent variations in technical replicates. *P<0.05 and **P<0.01.
Figure 6
Figure 6. RelA physically interacts with JMJD2A and binds to Ifnb promoter in a manner that is suppressed by noncanonical NF-κB
(A–C) BMDMs prepared from Map3k14−/− (A), NIKΔT3 transgenic (B), or Nfkb2xdr/xdr (C) mice and their WT littermate controls were stimulated for 1 h with LPS or poly(I:C). ChIP assays were performed and quantified by QPCR to detect the binding of NF-κB family members to the Ifnb promoter. Data are presented as percentage of the total input DNA. Data are representative of two-three independent experiments, and statistical analyses represent variations in technical replicates. *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. See also Figure S5.
Figure 7
Figure 7. NIK regulates histone modifications and JMJD2A binding at the Ifnb promoter
(A–D) BMDMs derived from Map3k14−/−, NIKΔT3 transgenic, or their WT control mice were stimulated with LPS or poly(I:C) for 1h. ChIP assays were performed to detect histone modifications (A and B) and binding of the indicated factors (C and D) at the Ifnb promoter. The Y axis is percentage (%) based on total H3 for A–B, and percentage (%) based on total input DNA for C–D. Data are representative of three independent experiments, and statistical analyses represent variations in technical replicates. (E) WT and Map3k14−/− BMDMs were pretreated for 12 h with 20 mM of a JMJD2 inhibitor (5-carboxy-8HQ) and then stimulated with LPS or poly(I:C) as indicated. The relative amount of Ifnb mRNAs were quantified by QPCR and presented as fold relative to the internal Actb mRNA control. (F) WT and Map3k14−/− BMDMs were infected with two different JMJD2A shRNAs or a non-silencing control shRNA and then stimulated with LPS and poly(I:C) as indicated. The relative amount of Ifnb mRNAs were quantified by QPCR and presented as fold relative to the internal Actb mRNA control. Data in all panels are representative of two-three independent experiments, and statistical analyses represent variations in technical replicates. *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. See also Figures S6 and S7
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