Open Access

New World arenaviruses represent an important group of zoonotic pathogens that pose a serious threat to human health. While some virus species cause severe disease, resulting in hemorrhagic fever and neurological symptoms, other closely related family members exhibit little or no pathogenicity. For instance, Junín virus (JUNV) is the causative agent of Argentine hemorrhagic fever, while the closely related Tacaribe virus (TCRV) is avirulent in humans. Little is known about host cell responses to infection, or how they contribute to virulence; however, TCRV strongly induces caspase-dependent apoptosis (i.e. non-inflammatory programmed cell death) in infected cells, whereas JUNV does not. In order to better understand the connection between apoptosis and pathogenesis, we sought to unravel the regulation of pro- and anti-apoptotic signaling in response to arenavirus infection. We demonstrated that apoptosis induced by TCRV proceeds over the mitochondrial-regulated intrinsic pathway and involves activation of p53 (accumulation and phosphorylation), activation of the pro-apoptotic BH3-only factors Puma and Noxa (accumulation), as well as inactivation of another pro-apoptotic factor called Bad (phosphorylation). The regulation of these factors in response to TCRV infection is accompanied by other classical hallmarks of intrinsic apoptosis, such as disorganization of the mitochondrial network, cytochrome c release, PS flipping, caspase cleavage and nuclear condensation. The involvement of the BH3-only factors as key players in regulating TCRV-induced apoptosis could also be validated in knockout cells, which showed either suppressed or increased apoptosis depending on the respective activation (i.e. Puma and Noxa) or inactivation (i.e. Bad) status of the respective BH3 protein. Interestingly, while JUNV does not trigger late stages of apoptosis induction (i.e. caspase activation, nuclear condensation and cell death), we could show that it activates similar upstream pro-apoptotic signaling events including activation of p53, Puma and Noxa. This supports the current hypothesis that JUNV actively evades the induction of apoptosis through the involvement of a mechanism targeting late steps in the apoptotic cascade. Specifically, this model proposes that intrinsic activation is suppressed at the level of caspase activation by JUNV NP, which serves as an alternative substrate for caspase cleavage. Additionally, in order to identify viral factors associated with the induction of apoptosis, a full genome sequencing of TCRV was performed and contributed to the validation and correction of substantial errors reported in existing sequences for TCRV. With the help of this sequence, correct expression plasmids containing the viral genes for NP, GP and Z were constructed and tested for their ability to induce apoptosis in vitro. This revealed that both TCRV and JUNV Z are triggers for apoptosis, which further supports our finding that JUNV also induces activation of pro-apoptotic factors. Again, consistent with a model where JUNV NP blocks caspase activation directly, co-expression of JUNV Z and NP abrogated caspase activation, while simultaneous expression of TCRV NP and Z still resulted in cell death. Finally, identification of the specific apoptotic factors involved in regulating TCRV-induced apoptosis (i.e. Bad, Puma and Noxa) and the generation of the respective knockout cell lines allowed us to investigate what influence apoptosis induction has on virus infection. Interestingly, knockout of these factors showed no direct impact on virus growth in Vero cells. However, TCRV particles produced in cells with the individual pro-apoptotic (i.e. Puma and Noxa) or anti-apoptotic (i.e. Bad) factors knocked out showed altered infectivity in primary human monocytes and macrophages, which represent important target cells for arenaviruses. Since TCRV particles that originate from the different knockout cells would be expected to contain different amounts of PS in their envelope (depending on the level of apoptosis taking place), this suggests a role of apoptosis in facilitating PS-receptor-mediated entry and/or PS-receptor signaling through downstream kinases, either of which could be contributing to successful infection in professional phagocytic cells. In particular, phosphorylation of some of the identified factors involved in regulating TCRV-induced apoptosis indicates the involvement of upstream kinases from diverse signaling pathways, some of which also play a role in regulating cytokine production – another host cell reaction that differs significantly between TCRV- and JUNV-infected monocytes and macrophages. As such, these findings represent an exciting basis for a possible connection between apoptotic responses and the regulation of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine responses via their associated upstream signaling processes and provide a starting point for future studies that will help us to better understand how these processes contribute to arenavirus pathogenicity.

Die reverse Genetik ist ein wichtiges Werkzeug in der Grundlagenforschung und Impfstoffentwicklung der Influenza-A- und -B-Viren. Oft ist der limitierende Schritt für die Erstellung eines solchen Systems der reversen Genetik, bestehend aus mehreren Plasmiden für die einzelnen Gensegmente, die Klonierung der Virusgene in den Expressionsvektor. Für eine schnellere und einfachere Klonierung wurde in dieser Arbeit das LacZa-Fragment mittels modifizierter QuikChange-Reaktion in den Klonierungsvektor pHWSccdB inseriert. Mit dem so entstandenen Vektor pHWSccdBLacZa ist es nun möglich, zusätzlich eine Blau/Weiß-Selektion durchzuführen. Beider target-primed plasmid amplification zur Insertion des viralen Gensegmentes werden hierbei die beiden Selektionsmarker ccdB und LacZa durch das virale Gen ersetzt. Bakterienkolonien mit kloniertem Gensegment können von denen ohne komplettes Insert nun leichter und frühzeitiger durch eine nicht vorhandene Blaufärbung unterschieden werden. Schweine spielen in der Influenzavirus-Transmission eine besondere Rolle, da sie als sog. „mixing vessel“ gelten. Sie können z. B. Reassortanten aus aviären und porzinen Influenzaviren auf den Menschen übertragen, die sich bei einer zeitgleichen Infektion mit beiden Viren im Schwein bilden können. In dieser Arbeit wurden die seit 1979 in Europa zirkulierenden aviären H1N1- Schweineviren betrachtet. Sie sind Schweinestämme, deren Gene von einem aviären Vorläufervirus abstammen. Unter dem Ziel der Untersuchung der molekularen Determinanten des Wirts-Tropismus dieser aviären H1N1-Schweineviren wurden Reassortanten und Zufallsressortanten hergestellt unter Verwendung des aviären Virus A/Duck/Bavaria/1/77 (H1N1) (DkBav) und des aviären Schweinevirus A/Swine/Belgium/1/79 (H1N1) (SwBelg). Zunächst wurde die Replikationseffizienz von DkBav, SwBelg und den hergestellten Reassortanten auf einer aviären und einer porzinen Zelllinie untersucht. Hierbei wurde festgestellt, dass für das aviäre Virus DkBav das HA von SwBelg ausreicht, um in porzinen Zellen das Wachstumsniveau von SwBelg zu erreichen. Das HA-Segment ist also entscheidend für den Wirtstropismus von DkBav in einer porzinen Zelllinie. Experimente im Schwein zeigten jedoch, dass DkBav nicht alleine durch das HA von SwBelg zu einem Schweinevirus wird. Für diese Experimente wurden Schweine intranasal mit den hergestellten Viren, SwBelg und DkBav infiziert. Um die Replikation im Schwein zu steigern, benötigt DkBav zusätzlich zum HA noch das NA von SwBelg und für die Transmission von Schwein zu Schwein das NP sowie eines oder mehrere der anderen Gensegmente von SwBelg. Für eine starke Virusvermehrung in der Lunge benötigt DkBav den Polymerasekomplex, HA und NA von SwBelg. Für die Transformation in ein Schweinevirus benötigt DkBav also kein bestimmtes Gensegment, sondern eine Kombination mehrerer Gensegmente. Für hochpathogene aviäre Influenzaviren ist die polybasische Spaltstelle des Oberflächenproteins HA der wichtigste Virulenzfaktor. Das HA ist u. a. für die Bindung und die Fusion der Endosomenmembran von Influenzaviren mit der Wirtszelle zuständig. Da eine polybasische HA-Spaltstelle alleine jedoch nicht ausreicht, um die Virulenz eines LPAIV deutlich zu erhöhen, wurde in dieser Arbeit nach weiteren Virulenzdeterminanten im HA des hochpathogenen Influenzavirus A/Swan/Germany/R65/2006 (H5N1) (R65wt) zusätzlich zur polybasischen Spaltstelle gesucht. Hierzu wurden von den Viren R65wt und A/Teal/Germany/Wv632/2005 (H5N1) mit eingesetzter polybasischer Spaltstelle (TG05poly) verschiedene HA-Chimären und -Mutanten hergestellt und diese in vitro und in vivo untersucht. Dabei wurde festgestellt, dass die eingefügten Mutationen nicht ausreichten, um TG05poly zu einem hochpathogenen Virus zu machen. Für das hochpathogene Virus R65wt wurden die Aminosäuren HA-R123 und HAI124 als weitere Virulenzdeterminanten identifiziert. Bei HA-Sequenz- und HAStrukturanalysen wurde festgestellt, dass die Aminosäuren HA-123 und HA-124 innerhalb des niedrigpathogenen bzw. des hochpathogenen Phänotyps hoch konserviert vorliegen. Mutationen an diesen Positionen verringern nicht nur HA-Aktivierungs-pH und Virus-Inaktivierungs-pH deutlich, sondern auch die Letalität des Virus um fast 50 % (HA-I124T) oder das Virus wurde sogar avirulent (HA-R123S). Im Falle einer polybasischen Spaltstelle ist also eine erhöhte pH-Stabilität des HA vermittelt durch die Aminosäure R123 essentiell für die Entstehung eines hochpathogenen aviären H5N1-Virus aus einem niedrigpathogenen Vorläufer.

Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) is a harmless resident of the human nasopharyngeal cavity, and, in general, every individual is likely to be colonized asymptomatically at least once during life. However, under certain conditions, the bacterium can spread to other tissues and organs causing local, non-invasive infections but also lifethreatening, invasive diseases. Pneumococcal carriage and infection is a highly regulated interplay between pathogen- and host-specific factors and the intimate contact of S. pneumoniae with the surface of the nasopharynx is the crucial step in pneumococcal pathogenesis. Pneumococcal adherence to the respiratory epithelium is mediated by surface-exposed adhesins. These adhesins engage host cell receptors either directly or indirectly by recognizing glycoproteins of the extracellular matrix (ECM) including structural components, such as collagens, laminins, and fibronectins, as well as plasma-derived ECM modulators, like vitronectin and Factor H. Pneumococcal surface protein C (PspC) is a surface-exposed protein and important virulence factor of S. pneumoniae. The multifunctional PspC protein promotes pneumococcal adherence to host cells by interacting with the secretory component of the human polymeric Immunoglobulin receptor of respiratory cells. In addition, PspC facilitates pneumococcal immune evasion by recruiting the complement inhibitor proteins C4b-binding protein (C4BP) and Factor H. Moreover, Factor H bound to the pneumococcal surface promotes bacterial adhesion to human epithelial and endothelial cells. S. pneumoniae also interacts with the human glycoprotein vitronectin. In plasma, monomeric vitronectin regulates thrombosis, fibrinolysis and the terminal complement cascade, while it additionally mediates cell-matrix interactions, cell adhesion and migration in the ECM. It was shown that multimeric, ECM-associated vitronectin facilitates pneumococcal adherence to respiratory epithelial cells. In addition, the interaction of pneumococci with vitronectin promotes their uptake by mucosal epithelial cells via the engagement of the integrin αvβ3 receptor and activation of intracellular signaling pathways culminating in cytoskeletal rearrangements. This study aims to identify and characterize the surface-exposed protein(s) that mediate binding of pneumococci to vitronectin and to elucidate the impact of vitronectin on pneumococcal pathogenesis beyond its function as molecular bridge between pneumococcus and host. Flow cytometric, immunosorbent and surface plasmon resonance experiments revealed that PspC is a vitronectin-binding protein of S. pneumoniae. The specificity of the interaction with vitronectin was confirmed using recombinant PspC proteins and Lactococcus lactis heterologously expressing PspC on their surface. Factor H did not hinder vitronectinbinding to PspC indicating that vitronectin recognizes the central part of PspC. Secretory IgA inhibited but not completely prevented vitronectin-binding to PspC, strongly suggesting that vitronectin binds near, but not directly to, the SC-binding region within the R domain(s) of PspC. In addition, PspC proteins comprising two R domains bound with higher affinity to vitronectin than PspC containing only one R domain, indicating that two interconnected R domains are required for efficient vitronectin-binding. Despite the sequential and structural differences to classical PspC, the PspC-like protein Hic specifically interacted with vitronectin with similar affinity than PspC containing two linked R domains. Binding studies confirmed that Factor H interacts with the very N-terminal region of Hic showing high sequence homology to classical PspC proteins, while vitronectin recognizes an adjacent region in the N-terminal region of Hic. The studied PspC proteins bound to both soluble and immobilized vitronectin, and the C-terminal heparin-binding domain (HBD3) was identified as PspC-binding motif in soluble vitronectin. However, in its immobilized form, vitronectin likely exposes additional binding sites for PspC since a region N-terminally to the identified HBD3 conferred binding of PspC. Vitronectin inhibits the terminal complement pathway, thereby preventing proinflammatory immune reactions and tissue damage. In general, pneumococci are protected from opsonization and MAC-dependent lysis by their capsule. However, pneumococci in close contact to human cells can become susceptible to complement attack due to reduced amounts of capsule. In addition, they can be severely affected by TCC-induced inflammatory responses. Vitronectin bound to PspC significantly inhibited the formation of terminal complement complexes. Thus, the interaction of PspC with vitronectin might aid in immune evasion of S. pneumoniae by inhibiting complement-mediated lysis and/or suppressing proinflammatory events. In conclusion, the results revealed the multifunctional PspC and Hic as vitronectin-binding proteins and proposed a novel role for the specific interaction of S. pneumoniae with vitronectin in regulating the complement cascade, beside its function as molecular bridge to the respiratory epithelium.