bims-mevinf 2023-08-06 papers

Issue of 2023‒08‒06
six papers selected by
Alexander Ivanov
Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology

Gut. 2023 Aug 04. pii: gutjnl-2022-328734. [Epub ahead of print]

Enolase represents a metabolic checkpoint controlling the differential exhaustion programmes of hepatitis virus-specific CD8+ T cells.

OBJECTIVE: Exhausted T cells with limited effector function are enriched in chronic hepatitis B and C virus (HBV and HCV) infection. Metabolic regulation contributes to exhaustion, but it remains unclear how metabolism relates to different exhaustion states, is impacted by antiviral therapy, and if metabolic checkpoints regulate dysfunction.DESIGN: Metabolic state, exhaustion and transcriptome of virus-specific CD8+ T cells from chronic HBV-infected (n=31) and HCV-infected patients (n=52) were determined ex vivo and during direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy. Metabolic flux and metabolic checkpoints were tested in vitro. Intrahepatic virus-specific CD8+ T cells were analysed by scRNA-Seq in a HBV-replicating murine in vivo model of acute and chronic infection.
RESULTS: HBV-specific (core18-27, polymerase455-463) and HCV-specific (NS31073-1081, NS31406-1415, NS5B2594-2602) CD8+ T cell responses exhibit heterogeneous metabolic profiles connected to their exhaustion states. The metabolic state was connected to the exhaustion profile rather than the aetiology of infection. Mitochondrial impairment despite intact glucose uptake was prominent in severely exhausted T cells linked to elevated liver inflammation in chronic HCV infection and in HBV polymerase455-463 -specific CD8+ T cell responses. In contrast, relative metabolic fitness was observed in HBeAg-negative HBV infection in HBV core18-27-specific responses. DAA therapy partially improved mitochondrial programmes in severely exhausted HCV-specific T cells and enriched metabolically fit precursors. We identified enolase as a metabolic checkpoint in exhausted T cells. Metabolic bypassing improved glycolysis and T cell effector function. Similarly, enolase deficiency was observed in intrahepatic HBV-specific CD8+ T cells in a murine model of chronic infection.
CONCLUSION: Metabolism of HBV-specific and HCV-specific T cells is strongly connected to their exhaustion severity. Our results highlight enolase as metabolic regulator of severely exhausted T cells. They connect differential bioenergetic fitness with distinct exhaustion subtypes and varying liver disease, with implications for therapeutic strategies.

Keywords: alpha beta T cells; chronic viral hepatitis; hepatitis B; hepatitis C; immunology in hepatology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2022-328734

Sci Rep. 2023 08 01. 13(1): 12420

The plasma metabolome of long COVID patients two years after infection.

Yamilé López-Hernández, Joel Monárrez-Espino, David Alejandro García López, Jiamin Zheng, Juan Carlos Borrego, Claudia Torres-Calzada, José Pedro Elizalde-Díaz, Rupasri Mandal, Mark Berjanskii, Eduardo Martínez-Martínez, Jesús Adrián López, David S Wishart.

One of the major challenges currently faced by global health systems is the prolonged COVID-19 syndrome (also known as "long COVID") which has emerged as a consequence of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic. It is estimated that at least 30% of patients who have had COVID-19 will develop long COVID. In this study, our goal was to assess the plasma metabolome in a total of 100 samples collected from healthy controls, COVID-19 patients, and long COVID patients recruited in Mexico between 2020 and 2022. A targeted metabolomics approach using a combination of LC-MS/MS and FIA MS/MS was performed to quantify 108 metabolites. IL-17 and leptin were measured in long COVID patients by immunoenzymatic assay. The comparison of paired COVID-19/long COVID-19 samples revealed 53 metabolites that were statistically different. Compared to controls, 27 metabolites remained dysregulated even after two years. Post-COVID-19 patients displayed a heterogeneous metabolic profile. Lactic acid, lactate/pyruvate ratio, ornithine/citrulline ratio, and arginine were identified as the most relevant metabolites for distinguishing patients with more complicated long COVID evolution. Additionally, IL-17 levels were significantly increased in these patients. Mitochondrial dysfunction, redox state imbalance, impaired energy metabolism, and chronic immune dysregulation are likely to be the main hallmarks of long COVID even two years after acute COVID-19 infection.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39049-x

iScience. 2023 Aug 18. 26(8): 107280

Extracellular vesicles in COVID-19 convalescence can regulate T cell metabolism and function.

Molly S George, Jenifer Sanchez, Christina Rollings, David Fear, Peter Irving, Linda V Sinclair, Anna Schurich.

Long-term T cell dysregulation has been reported following COVID-19 disease. Prolonged T cell activation is associated with disease severity and may be implicated in producing long-covid symptoms. Here, we assess the role of extracellular vesicles (EV) in regulating T cell function over several weeks post COVID-19 disease. We find that alterations in cellular origin and protein content of EV in COVID-19 convalescence are linked to initial disease severity. We demonstrate that convalescent donor-derived EV can alter the function and metabolic rewiring of CD4 and CD8 T cells. Of note, EV following mild, but not severe disease, show distinctly immune-suppressive properties, reducing T cell effector cytokine production and glucose metabolism. Mechanistically our data indicate the involvement of EV-surface ICAM-1 in facilitating EV-T cell interaction. Our data demonstrate that circulatory EV are phenotypically and functionally altered several weeks following acute infection, suggesting a role for EV as long-term immune modulators.

Keywords: Immunology; Virology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107280

FEBS J. 2023 Aug 01.

Identification of a small chemical as a lysosomal calcium mobilizer and characterization of its ability to inhibit autophagy and viral infection.

Kehui Zhang, Lihong Huang, Yang Cai, Yi Zhong, Nanjun Chen, Fei Gao, Liang Zhang, Qi Li, Zhenming Liu, Rongxin Zhang, Liangren Zhang, Jianbo Yue.

We previously identified GAPDH as one of the cyclic adenosine diphosphoribose (cADPR)'s binding proteins and found that GAPDH participates in cADPR-mediated Ca2+ release from ER via ryanodine receptors (RyRs). Here we aimed to chemically synthesize and pharmacologically characterize novel cADPR analogues. Based on the simulated cADPR-GAPDH complex structure, we performed the structure-based drug screening, identified several small chemicals with high docking scores to cADPR's binding pocket in GAPDH, and showed that two of these compounds, C244 and C346, are potential cADPR antagonists. We further synthesized several analogs of C346, and found that its analog, G42, also mobilized Ca2+ release from lysosomes. G42 alkalized lysosomal pH, and inhibited autophagosome-lysosome fusion. Moreover, G42 markedly inhibited Zika virus (ZIKV, a flavivirus) or murine hepatitis virus (MHV, a β-coronavirus) infections of host cells. These results suggest that G42 inhibits virus infection, likely by triggering lysosomal Ca2+ mobilization and inhibiting autophagy.

Keywords: Antiviral infection; Autophagy; Ca2+; lysosome

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.16920

PLoS Pathog. 2023 Aug 04. 19(8): e1011552

Hepatitis C virus non-structural proteins modulate cellular kinases for increased cytoplasmic abundance of host factor HuR and facilitate viral replication.

Harsha Raheja, Biju George, Sachin Kumar Tripathi, Sandhini Saha, Tushar Kanti Maiti, Saumitra Das.

Host protein HuR translocation from nucleus to cytoplasm following infection is crucial for the life cycle of several RNA viruses including hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major causative agent of hepatocellular carcinoma. HuR assists the assembly of replication-complex on the viral-3'UTR, and its depletion hampers viral replication. Although cytoplasmic HuR is crucial for HCV replication, little is known about how the virus orchestrates the mobilization of HuR into the cytoplasm from the nucleus. We show that two viral proteins, NS3 and NS5A, act co-ordinately to alter the equilibrium of the nucleo-cytoplasmic movement of HuR. NS3 activates protein kinase C (PKC)-δ, which in-turn phosphorylates HuR on S318 residue, triggering its export to the cytoplasm. NS5A inactivates AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) resulting in diminished nuclear import of HuR through blockade of AMPK-mediated phosphorylation and acetylation of importin-α1. Cytoplasmic retention or entry of HuR can be reversed by an AMPK activator or a PKC-δ inhibitor. Our findings suggest that efforts should be made to develop inhibitors of PKC-δ and activators of AMPK, either separately or in combination, to inhibit HCV infection.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1011552

Life Sci. 2023 Jul 28. pii: S0024-3205(23)00617-3. [Epub ahead of print]329 121982

Role of endoplasmic reticulum stress-related unfolded protein response and its implications in dengue virus infection for biomarker development.

Biswadeep Das, Sagnika Samal, Hamida Hamdi, Aditi Pal, Arpita Biswas, Jyotika Behera, Gyanraj Singh, Chinmay Kumar Behera, Debee Prasad Sahoo, Sanghamitra Pati.

Dengue virus (DENV) causes debilitating disease in humans, which varies at different rates in host cells, such as monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, Langerhans cells, and other cell types. Such heterogeneity in DENV infection in cells could be attributed to a range of factors, including host cell immune response, anti-viral cellular proteins, and virus mediated cellular autophagy. This review delineates an important feature of every cell, the unfolded protein response (UPR) that is attributed to the accumulation of several viral and unfolded/misfolded proteins, such as in DENV infection. UPR is a normal process to counteract endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress that leads to cell autophagy; though the phenomenon is markedly upregulated during DENV infection. This could be attributed to the uncontrolled activation of the key UPR signaling pathways: inositol-requiring transmembrane kinase/endoribonuclease 1 (IRE1), protein kinase R (PKR)-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), and activating transcription factor-6 (ATF6), which promote cell autophagy under normal and diseased conditions through the downstream regulation of apoptosis promoting factors such as X-box binding protein (XBP1), GADD34, and ATF-6. Because DENV can modulate these signaling cascades, by promoting dysregulated cell autophagy, the ER stress mediated UPR pathways and the inherent agents could play an important role in delineating the severity of dengue infection with a potential for developing DENV targeted therapeutics.

Keywords: ATF-6; Biomarkers; DENV; ER stress; IRE-1; PERK; UPR

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2023.121982