Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus nonstructural protein 2 contributes to NF-κB activation

Ying Fang,Rui Luo,Liurong Fang,Yingying Lei,Dang Wang,Yang Wang,Shaobo Xiao,Huanchun Chen

doi:10.1186/1743-422x-9-83

Abstract

BackgroundNuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) is an inducible transcription factor that plays a key role in inflammation and immune responses, as well as in the regulation of cell proliferation and survival. Previous studies by our group and others have demonstrated that porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection could activate NF-κB in MARC-145 cells and alveolar macrophages. The nucleocapsid (N) protein was identified as an NF-κB activator among the structural proteins encoded by PRRSV; however, it remains unclear whether the nonstructural proteins (Nsps) contribute to NF-κB activation. In this study, we identified which Nsps can activate NF-κB and investigated the potential mechanism(s) by which they act.ResultsBy screening the individual Nsps of PRRSV strain WUH3, Nsp2 exhibited great potential to activate NF-κB in MARC-145 and HeLa cells. Overexpression of Nsp2 induced IκBα degradation and nuclear translocation of NF-κB. Furthermore, Nsp2 also induced NF-κB-dependent inflammatory factors, including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, COX-2, and RANTES. Compared with the Nsp2 of the classical PRRSV strain, the Nsp2 of highly pathogenic PRRSV (HP-PRRSV) strains that possess a 30 amino acid (aa) deletion in Nsp2 displayed greater NF-κB activation. However, the 30-aa deletion was demonstrated to not be associated with NF-κB activation. Further functional domain analyses revealed that the hypervariable region (HV) of Nsp2 was essential for NF-κB activation.ConclusionsTaken together, these data indicate that PRRSV Nsp2 is a multifunctional protein participating in the modulation of host inflammatory response, which suggests an important role of Nsp2 in pathogenesis and disease outcomes.

Highlights

Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) is an inducible transcription factor that plays a key role in inflammation and immune responses, as well as in the regulation of cell proliferation and survival
To further confirm the effect of Nsp2 on NF-κB, HeLa cells were transfected with increasing amounts of Nsp2 expression plasmid and NF-κB luciferase activity was monitored at 36 h post-transfection
A dosedependent increase in luciferase reporter activity was observed. These data clearly indicated that Nsp2 was responsible for the induction of NF-κB activation among porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) nonstructural proteins

Summary

Introduction

Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) is an inducible transcription factor that plays a key role in inflammation and immune responses, as well as in the regulation of cell proliferation and survival. The 5’ two-thirds of the viral genome is occupied by overlapping open reading frames 1a (ORF1a) and 1b, which encode nonstructural polyproteins (Nsp), pp1a and pp1ab, respectively [4,5] These polyproteins are NF-κB is a family of inducible transcription factors involving pathogen- or cytokine-induced immune and inflammatory responses, as well as cell proliferation and survival [17,18,19,20]. The members of the NF-κB family in mammalian cells include p50/p105 (NFκB1), p65 (RelA), p52/p100 (NFκB2), c-Rel, and RelB All of these proteins share a conserved 300-amino acid region known as the Rel homology domain that is responsible for DNA binding, dimerization, and nuclear translocation of NF-κB. The subunit of NF-κB p65 is phosphorylated while exposing its nuclear localization signal sequence (NLS), leading to nuclear translocation and subsequent binding of NF-κB to DNA regulatory elements of the target genes involved in various biological functions [6,21,22,23,25]

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Conclusion