Abstract
Viral infections of the cornea including herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) cause visual morbidity, and the corneal endothelial cell damage leads to significant visual impairment. Interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) has been identified as a significant regulator in corneal endothelial cells after an HSV-1 infection. To examine the role played by IRF7, the DNA binding domain (DBD) of IRF7 of human corneal endothelial cells (HCEn) was disrupted. An RNAi inhibition of IRF7 and IRF7 DBD disruption (IRF7 ∆DBD) led to an impairment of IFN-β production. Impaired IFN-β production by IRF7 ∆DBD was regained by IRF7 DNA transfection. Transcriptional network analysis indicated that IRF7 plays a role in antigen presentation function of corneal endothelial cells. When the antigen presentation activity of HCEn cells were examined for priming of memory CD8 T cells, IRF7 disruption abolished the anti-viral cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response which was dependent on the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I. To further examine the roles played by IRF7 in CTL induction as acquired immunity, the contribution of IRF7 to MHC class I-mediated antigen presentation was assessed. Analysis of IRF7 ∆DBD cells indicated that IRF7 played an unrecognized role in MHC class I induction, and the viral infection induced-MHC class I induction was abolished by IRF7 disruption. Collectively, the IRF7 in corneal endothelial cells not only contributed to type I IFN response, but also to the mediation of viral infection-induced MHC class I upregulation and priming of CD8 arm of acquired immunity.
Highlights
Viral infections of the cornea including herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) cause visual morbidity, and the corneal endothelial cell damage leads to significant visual impairment
We have reported that corneal endothelial cells induce strong IFN responses to Herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 infection[3]
Using Ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA), the HSV-1-induced network was annotated as antimicrobial responses and inflammatory responses and were characterized as IFN- and NF-κB-related inflammatory responses as well as antigen presentation
Summary
Viral infections of the cornea including herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) cause visual morbidity, and the corneal endothelial cell damage leads to significant visual impairment. When the antigen presentation activity of HCEn cells were examined for priming of memory CD8 T cells, IRF7 disruption abolished the anti-viral cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response which was dependent on the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I. The IRF7 in corneal endothelial cells contributed to type I IFN response, and to the mediation of viral infection-induced MHC class I upregulation and priming of CD8 arm of acquired immunity. The leading cause of a reduction of clarity is bullous keratopathy which results from a dysfunction of the corneal endothelial cells This dysfunction develops by physiological aging, surgical procedures, or viral infections. The IRFs exert their diverse roles by the binding of their DNA binding domain
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