Current progress on innate immune evasion mediated by Npro protein of pestiviruses

Shubo Wen; Xintong Li; Xiangyu Lv; Kai Liu; Jingqiang Ren; Jingbo Zhai; Yang Song

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1136051

Current progress on innate immune evasion mediated by N^pro protein of pestiviruses

Front Immunol. 2023 Apr 5:14:1136051. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1136051. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Shubo Wen^{1

2

3}, Xintong Li⁴, Xiangyu Lv^{1

3}, Kai Liu^{1

3}, Jingqiang Ren⁵, Jingbo Zhai^{1

2}, Yang Song^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Preventive Veterinary Laboratory, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, China.
² Key Laboratory of Zoonose Prevention and Control, Universities of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tongliao, China.
³ Beef Cattle Disease Control and Engineering Technology Research Center, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tongliao, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁵ Wenzhou Key Laboratory for Virology and Immunology, Institute of Virology, Wenzhou University, Zhejiang, Wenzhou, China.

Abstract

Interferon (IFN), the most effective antiviral cytokine, is involved in innate and adaptive immune responses and is essential to the host defense against virus invasion. Once the host was infected by pathogens, the pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) were recognized by the host pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), which activates interferon regulatory transcription factors (IRFs) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signal transduction pathway to induce IFN expression. Pathogens have acquired many strategies to escape the IFN-mediated antiviral immune response. Pestiviruses cause massive economic losses in the livestock industry worldwide every year. The immune escape strategies acquired by pestiviruses during evolution are among the major difficulties in its control. Previous experiments indicated that Erns, as an envelope glycoprotein unique to pestiviruses with RNase activity, could cleave viral ss- and dsRNAs, therefore inhibiting the host IFN production induced by viral ss- and dsRNAs. In contrast, Npro, the other envelope glycoprotein unique to pestiviruses, mainly stimulates the degradation of transcription factor IRF-3 to confront the IFN response. This review mainly summarized the current progress on mechanisms mediated by Npro of pestiviruses to antagonize IFN production.

Keywords: immune evasion; innate immunity; interferon (IFN); pestivirus; viral proteins.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antiviral Agents
Glycoproteins / metabolism
Immune Evasion*
Interferon Regulatory Factors / metabolism
Interferons / metabolism
NF-kappa B / metabolism
Pestivirus* / genetics
Pestivirus* / metabolism

Substances

Interferons
NF-kappa B
Antiviral Agents
Interferon Regulatory Factors
Glycoproteins

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the Young Scientific and Technological Talents in Inner Mongolia (No. NJYT23095, NJYT22053). The Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia (No. 2022LHQN03009). Doctoral Funding of Inner Mongolia Minzu University (No. BS584, BS583), Key Research and Development Program in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (No. 2021ZD001301, 2019ZD006). Open Funding Project of Brucellosis Prevention and Treatment Engineering Research Center of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (No. MDK2021078).