STAT1-dependent tolerance of intestinal viral infection

Abstract

Abstract The diverse commensal ecosystem present in the mammalian intestine requires the host immune system to maintain a tolerogenic environment. The virome is an understudied component of the microbiota which promotes intestinal homeostasis and protection from injury, but the host mechanisms that regulate tolerance to viral commensals are poorly described. The antiviral signal transducer STAT1 has previously been shown to mediate tolerance to systemic viral pathogens by suppressing adaptive immune responses and protecting the host from immunopathology, but we sought to characterize its role in the context of a commensal intestinal viral infection. We used a persistent strain of murine norovirus (MNV CR6) to interrogate host mechanisms of viral tolerance and commensalism, as CR6 has previously been shown to promote intestinal homeostasis. While CR6 infections of wildtype mice were asymptomatic and limited to the colon, STAT1-deficient mice exhibited virus-induced weight loss and mortality accompanied by systemic viral spread, colonic bacterial dysbiosis, CD4+ T cell dysfunction and hyperaccumulation of CD8+ T cells. However, clinical manifestation of virus-induced disease in STAT1-deficient mice was independent of T cells and the bacterial microbiota. Instead, therapeutic control of viral replication was sufficient to prevent virus-induced disease despite ongoing T cell dysregulation. Collectively, our data indicate that STAT1 maintains tolerance to a viral component of the intestinal microbiota by control of viral replication rather than immunopathology, suggesting that STAT1 uses distinct strategies to tolerate pathogenic and commensal viruses.