Immune Netw.  2019 Dec;19(6):e40. 10.4110/in.2019.19.e40.

Zika Virus Impairs Host NLRP3-mediated Inflammasome Activation in an NS3-dependent Manner

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Immunology and Immunological Diseases, Brain Korea 21 PLUS Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea. jewookyu@yuhs.ac
  • 2Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Korea University Guro Hospital, Seoul 08308, Korea.

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus associated with severe neurological disorders including Guillain-Barré syndrome and microcephaly. The host innate immune responses against ZIKV infection are essential for protection; however, ZIKV has evolved strategies to evade and antagonize antiviral responses via its nonstructural (NS) proteins. Here, we demonstrated that ZIKV infection unexpectedly inhibits NLRP3-dependent inflammasome activation in bone marrow-derived macrophages and mixed glial cells from mouse brain. ZIKV infection led to increased transcript levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β and IL-6 via activating NF-κB signaling. However, ZIKV infection failed to trigger the secretion of active caspase-1 and IL-1β from macrophages and glial cells even in the presence of LPS priming or ATP costimulation. Intriguingly, ZIKV infection significantly attenuated NLRP3-dependent, but not absent in melanoma 2-dependent caspase-1 activation and IL-1β secretion from both cells. ZIKV infection further blocked apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain oligomerization in LPS/ATP-stimulated macrophages. Interestingly, expression of ZIKV NS3 protein reduced NLRP3-mediated caspase-1 activation and IL-1β secretion in macrophages, whereas NS1 and NS5 proteins showed no effects. Furthermore, NLRP3 was found to be degraded by the overexpression of ZIKV NS3 in 293T cells. Collectively, these results indicate that ZIKV evades host NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated innate immune responses in macrophages and glial cells; this may facilitate ZIKV's ability to enhance the replication and dissemination in these cells.

Keyword

Zika virus; Caspase 1; Inflammasome; NLRP3; Macrophages; Glial cells

MeSH Terms

Adenosine Triphosphate
Animals
Brain
Caspase 1
Cytokines
Flavivirus
Guillain-Barre Syndrome
HEK293 Cells
Immunity, Innate
Inflammasomes*
Interleukin-6
Macrophages
Melanoma
Mice
Microcephaly
Nervous System Diseases
Neuroglia
Zika Virus*
Adenosine Triphosphate
Caspase 1
Cytokines
Inflammasomes
Interleukin-6
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