Synergistic inhibition of enterovirus 71 replication by interferon and rupintrivir.

BACKGROUND: Enterovirus 71 (EV71) can cause severe diseases and even lead to death in children. There is no vaccine or specific antiviral therapy to prevent or cure EV71 infection. Although interferon (IFN)-α has been used in the treatment of several viral infections, we found that IFN-α alone was ineffective in restricting EV71 replication in Vero cells. METHODS: Through a bioinformatics analysis, several cellular proteins in the IFN response pathway were identified as susceptible substrates that might be degraded by the EV71-encoded 3C protease (3C(pro)). RESULTS: Indeed, IRF9 was shown to be vulnerable to 3C(pro) cleavage, as revealed by enzyme-based and cell-based assays. Thus, the IFN-mediated antiviral mechanism compromised by the viral 3C(pro) in EV71-infected cells may be accountable, at least partially, for that IFN-α cannot inhibit EV71 replication. Because rupintrivir (AG7088) is known to be an effective EV71 inhibitor, we investigated the effects of the combination of rupintrivir and IFN-α on EV71 replication and found that they strongly synergized with each other in inhibiting EV71 replication. CONCLUSIONS: Because rupintrivir was shown to be generally tolerable in earlier clinical investigations, it is worth evaluating whether a combination of rupintrivir and IFN-α could be an effective treatment for EV71.

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha is regulated by RBM38, a RNA-binding protein and a p53 family target, via mRNA translation.

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF1), a heterodimeric transcription factor, consists of HIF1α and HIF1ß and is necessary for cell growth and survival under a hypoxic condition. Thus, the level and activity of HIF1α needs to be tightly controlled. Indeed, HIF1α protein stability is controlled by prolyl hydroxylase and von Hippel-Lindau-mediated proteosomal degradation. However, it remains unclear whether HIF1α expression is controlled by other pathways. Here, we showed that RNA-binding protein RBM38, a target of the p53 family, regulates HIF1α expression via mRNA translation. Specifically, we showed that under a hypoxic condition, ectopic expression of RBM38 decreased, whereas knockdown of RBM38 increased, the level of HIF1α protein. We also showed that the rate of de novo HIF1α protein synthesis was increased by knockdown of RBM38. Additionally, we showed that RBM38 directly bound to HIF1α 5' and 3'UTRs. Consistently, we showed that the rate of mRNA translation for a heterologous reporter that carries HIF1α 5'and/or 3'UTRs was increased upon knockdown of RBM38. Furthermore, we showed that knockdown of RBM38 increased, whereas ectopic expression of RBM38 decreased, the binding of eIF4E to HIF1α mRNA. Together, our data suggest that RBM38 is a novel translational regulator of HIF1α under a hypoxic condition.

Mapping interactions between mRNA export factors in living cells.

The TREX complex couples nuclear mRNA processing events with subsequent export to the cytoplasm. TREX also acts as a binding platform for the mRNA export receptor Nxf1. The sites of mRNA transcription and processing within the nucleus have been studied extensively. However, little is known about where TREX assembly takes place and where Nxf1 is recruited to TREX to form the export competent mRNP. Here we have used sensitized emission Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM)-FRET, to produce a spatial map in living cells of the sites for the interaction of two TREX subunits, Alyref and Chtop, with Nxf1. Prominent assembly sites for export factors are found in the vicinity of nuclear speckles in regions known to be involved in transcription, splicing and exon junction complex formation highlighting the close coupling of mRNA export with mRNP biogenesis.