title: Host responses to wild-type and attenuated herpes simplex virus infection in the absence of Stat1.
abstract: Humans and mice lacking the interferon signaling molecule Stat1 are sensitive to a variety of pathogens due to their presumed inability to mount a strong innate immune response. The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) virion host shutoff (vhs) protein is a multifunctional immunomodulator that counteracts the innate immune response and viruses lacking vhs are attenuated and effective live vaccines in animal models. To investigate the interplay of viruses with an immunocompromised host, we performed functional genomics analyses on control and Stat1(-/-) mouse corneas infected with wild-type or vhs-null viruses. In control mice, correlative with viral growth, both viruses induced a transient increase in immunomodulators, followed by viral clearance. In contrast, infection of the Stat1(-/-) mice induced a heightened and prolonged induction of inflammatory modulators for both viruses, manifesting as a significant immune cell infiltrate and ocular disease. Moreover, while wild-type virus infection of Stat1(-/-) was always lethal, vhs-null infection was rarely lethal. There was a significant increase in Stat3- and interleukin-6 (IL-6)-dependent transcription in Stat1(-/-) mice, implicating the Stat3 and IL-6 pathways in the observed ocular pathology. Further, infected Stat1(-/-) mice showed phosphorylated Stat3 in the corneal epithelium. Our data show a role for vhs in evading innate host responses and a role for Stat1 in limiting virus infection and for facilitating an appropriate nonpathological inflammatory response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Tracy Jo
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Pasieka
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cilloniz
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Teal
authors.forename: Sean C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Proll
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Katze
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Leib
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D023281:Genomics; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000276:immunology; D016849:Keratitis, Herpetic / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D050794:STAT1 Transcription Factor / Q000172:deficiency*; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D050794:STAT1 Transcription Factor; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494080:Stat1 protein, mouse; C494087:Stat3 protein, mouse