Inflammatory cytokines promote interferon regulatory factor (IRF) transcriptional activity in human pulmonary epithelial cells through the induction of IRF1 by nuclear factor-κB

Transcription factors of the interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family play key roles during viral and bacterial infections. However, IRF regulation by inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ⍺, remains underexplored. Since airway epithelial cells (AECs) modulate lung inflammation, IRF expression was characterized in pulmonary A549 and bronchial BEAS-2B epithelial cells, plus primary human AECs grown in submersion or highly differentiated air-liquid interface culture. Whereas most IRF mRNAs were expressed across models, IRF4 and IRF8 showed consistently low expression, and IRF6 was only expressed highly in primary cells. IRF3 and IRF9 were highly expressed in each model, and while protein expression was confirmed in A549 cells, this remained primarily cytoplasmic post-IL-1β treatment. IRF2 was constitutively nuclear in A549 cells and showed moderate/high mRNA expression in each model. IRF1 mRNA was induced by IL-1β-in primary and A549 cells, where IL-1β and TNFα dramatically increased IRF1 protein expression. TNFα also increased IRF1 protein in BEAS-2B cells. In A549 cells, an IRF reporter system combined with RNA silencing did not support transcriptional roles for IRF2 or IRF3 but suggested a modest role for IRF9 following IL-1β stimulation. IL-1β-induced IRF1 localized to the nucleus of A549 cells revealing a major transcriptional role. IRF1 expression induced by IL-1β/TNF⍺ required NF-κB and four novel 5ʹ enhancer regions to IRF1 bound the NF-κB subunit, p65. These regions drove IL-1β/TNF⍺-inducible reporter activity via consensus NF-κB motifs. Three such regions recruited RNA polymerase-2 and were flanked by the active chromatin mark, histone 3 lysine 27 acetylation which, given the high levels of genetic conservation, support involvement in IRF1 transcription. Finally, IRF1 expression, transcription rate, and enhancer activity induced by IL-1β/TNF⍺ were relatively unaffected by glucocorticoid co-treatment. IRF1-dependent gene expression could therefore be insensitive to glucocorticoid and may contribute to glucocorticoid-resistant diseases such as severe asthma.