Hepatitis B virus–induced imbalance of inflammatory and antiviral signaling by differential phosphorylation of STAT1 in human monocytes

H Song, G Tan, Y Yang, A Cui, H Li, T Li… - The Journal of …, 2019 - journals.aai.org
H Song, G Tan, Y Yang, A Cui, H Li, T Li, Z Wu, M Yang, G Lv, X Chi, J Niu, K Zhu, IN Crispe
The Journal of Immunology, 2019journals.aai.org
It is not clear how hepatitis B virus (HBV) modulates host immunity during chronic infection.
In addition to the key mediators of inflammatory response in viral infection, monocytes also
express a high-level IFN-stimulated gene, CH25H, upon response to IFN-α exerting an
antiviral effect. In this study, the mechanism by which HBV manipulates IFN signaling in
human monocytes was investigated. We observed that monocytes from chronic hepatitis B
patients express lower levels of IFN signaling/stimulated genes and higher levels of …
Abstract
It is not clear how hepatitis B virus (HBV) modulates host immunity during chronic infection. In addition to the key mediators of inflammatory response in viral infection, monocytes also express a high-level IFN-stimulated gene, CH25H, upon response to IFN-α exerting an antiviral effect. In this study, the mechanism by which HBV manipulates IFN signaling in human monocytes was investigated. We observed that monocytes from chronic hepatitis B patients express lower levels of IFN signaling/stimulated genes and higher levels of inflammatory cytokines compared with healthy donors. HBV induces monocyte production of inflammatory cytokines via TLR2/MyD88/NF-κB signaling and STAT1-Ser727 phosphorylation and inhibits IFN-α–induced stat1, stat2, and ch25h expression through the inhibition of STAT1-Tyr701 phosphorylation and in an IL-10–dependent, partially autocrine manner. Further, we found that enhancement of STAT1 activity with a small molecule (2-NP) rescued HBV-mediated inhibition of IFN signaling and counteracted the induction of inflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, HBV contributes to the monocyte inflammatory response but inhibits their IFN-α/β responsiveness to impair antiviral innate immunity. These effects are mediated via differential phosphorylation of Tyr701 and Ser727 of STAT1.
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