USP22 controls type III interferon signaling and SARS-CoV-2 infection through activation of STING

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Abstract

Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and interferons (IFNs) serve as essential antiviral defense against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Type III IFNs (IFN-λ) exhibit cell-type specific and long-lasting functions in auto-inflammation, tumorigenesis, and antiviral defense. Here, we identify the deubiquitinating enzyme USP22 as central regulator of basal IFN-λ secretion and SARS-CoV-2 infections in human intestinal epithelial cells (hIECs). USP22-deficient hIECs strongly upregulate genes involved in IFN signaling and viral defense, including numerous IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs), with increased secretion of IFN-λ and enhanced STAT1 signaling, even in the absence of exogenous IFNs or viral infection. Interestingly, USP22 controls basal and 2′3′-cGAMP-induced STING activation and loss of STING reversed STAT activation and ISG and IFN-λ expression. Intriguingly, USP22-deficient hIECs are protected against SARS-CoV-2 infection, viral replication, and the formation of de novo infectious particles, in a STING-dependent manner. These findings reveal USP22 as central host regulator of STING and type III IFN signaling, with important implications for SARS-CoV-2 infection and antiviral defense.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2022.02.01.478628: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Ethicsnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Cell Line AuthenticationContamination: All cell lines were regularly negatively tested for mycoplasma.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    The following antibodies are used: rabbit anti-STING (13647S, Cell Signaling Beverly, MA, USA), rabbit anti-phospho-STAT1 (9167L, Cell Signaling), mouse anti-STAT1 (9176S, Cell signaling), rabbit anti-USP22 (#ab195298, Abcam), mouse anti-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) (5G4cc, HyTest, Turku, Finland), mouse anti-Vinculin (#V9131-100UL, Merck), rabbit anti-TBK1 (ab40676, Abcam), rabbit anti-phospho-TBK1 (ab109272, Abcam), rabbit anti-Histone H2B (#07-371, Merck), mouse anti-Ubiquityl-Histone H2B (#05-1312, Merck)
    anti-STING
    suggested: (Cell Signaling Technology Cat# 13647, RRID:AB_2732796)
    anti-phospho-STAT1
    suggested: None
    anti-STAT1
    suggested: (Cell Signaling Technology Cat# 9176, RRID:AB_2240087)
    anti-USP22
    suggested: None
    anti-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase
    suggested: None
    GAPDH
    suggested: (Millipore Cat# 17-650, RRID:AB_1977238)
    anti-Vinculin ( #V9131-100UL , Merck)
    suggested: None
    anti-TBK1
    suggested: (Abcam Cat# ab40676, RRID:AB_776632)
    anti-phospho-TBK1
    suggested: (Abcam Cat# ab109272, RRID:AB_10862438)
    anti-Histone H2B
    suggested: (Millipore Cat# 07-371, RRID:AB_310561)
    anti-Ubiquityl-Histone H2B
    suggested: (Millipore Cat# 05-1312, RRID:AB_1587119)
    Infected cells were stained with 1:1000 diluted anti-dsRNA (J2) for 1 h at room temperature, washed three times with 0.1 % PBT-T, followed by incubation with secondary antibody (anti-mouse CW800) and DNA dye Draq5 (Abcam, Cambridge, UK), diluted 1:10000 in blocking buffer and incubated for 1 h at room temperature.
    anti-dsRNA (J2
    suggested: (SCICONS Cat# 10010200, RRID:AB_2651015)
    anti-mouse CW800
    suggested: None
    Draq5
    suggested: (Biostatus Cat# DR50050, RRID:AB_2314341)
    Cells were washed in 1X PBS three times and incubated with secondary antibodies goat-anti mouse Alexa Fluor 568 and DAPI for 45 mins at RT.
    mouse
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Cell culture, reagents and chemicals: The human colon carcinoma cell line HT-29 was obtained from DSMZ (Braunschweig, Germany) and cultivated in McCoy’s 5A Medium GlutaMAXTM-I (Life Technologies, Inc., Eggenstein, Germany), supplemented with 10 % fetal calf serum (FCS) (Biochrom, Ltd., Berlin, Germany) and 1 % penicillin-streptomycin (Invitrogen).
    HT-29
    suggested: None
    For the generation of viral particles, multiple gene-specific gRNAs were combined and co-transfected with pMD2.G (Addgene plasmid #12259) and psPAX2 (Addgene plasmid #12260) in HEK293T cells using FuGENE HD Transfection Reagent (Promega), according to the manufacturer’s protocol.
    HEK293T
    suggested: KCB Cat# KCB 200744YJ, RRID:CVCL_0063)
    TCID50 virus titration: Vero E6 cells were seeded (20000 per well) in 96-well plates 24 h prior to infection.
    Vero E6
    suggested: None
    A volume of 100 µl of viral supernatant from the indicated SARS-CoV-2-infected Caco-2 cells was added to the first well.
    Caco-2
    suggested: CLS Cat# 300137/p1665_CaCo-2, RRID:CVCL_0025)
    Experimental Models: Organisms/Strains
    SentencesResources
    SARS-CoV-2 infection: SARS-CoV-2 (strain BavPat1/2020) was obtained from the European Virology Archive and amplified in Vero E6 cells and used at passage 3.
    SARS-CoV-2
    suggested: None
    Recombinant DNA
    SentencesResources
    Addgene plasmid #51763, #51762 and #51760) were ligated into pLentiCRISPRv2 (Addgene plasmid # 52961) using restriction cloning.
    pLentiCRISPRv2
    suggested: RRID:Addgene_127644)
    For the generation of viral particles, multiple gene-specific gRNAs were combined and co-transfected with pMD2.G (Addgene plasmid #12259) and psPAX2 (Addgene plasmid #12260) in HEK293T cells using FuGENE HD Transfection Reagent (Promega), according to the manufacturer’s protocol.
    pMD2 . G
    suggested: None
    psPAX2
    suggested: RRID:Addgene_12260)
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Genes with differential expression between NHT control and USP22 KO have been identified using the linear model-based approach limma R package 85.
    limma
    suggested: (LIMMA, RRID:SCR_010943)
    Gene-set enrichment analysis was performed with gage R package 86 using the MSigDB 87 as gene set repository.
    gage
    suggested: (GAGE, RRID:SCR_017067)
    Statistical analysis: Significance was assessed using Student’s t-test (two-tailed distribution, two-sample, equal variance) using Microsoft Excel, unless indicated otherwise.
    Microsoft Excel
    suggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)
    Data and code availability: Microarray data are available on Gene Expression Omnibus under the accession number GSE190036.
    Gene Expression Omnibus
    suggested: (Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, RRID:SCR_005012)

    Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your data.


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We found bar graphs of continuous data. We recommend replacing bar graphs with more informative graphics, as many different datasets can lead to the same bar graph. The actual data may suggest different conclusions from the summary statistics. For more information, please see Weissgerber et al (2015).


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.


    About SciScore

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