Pattern Recognition Receptors in the innate immune system serve as the first line of defense against pathogen infection. They recognize conserved molecular features commonly associated with pathogens and rapidly elicit anti-microbial immune response. One important family of such receptors are viral RNA receptors, RIG-I and MDA5, which cooperate with their common adaptor, MAVS, to activate the type I interferon response. The interaction between RIG-I/MDA5 and MAVS represents a committed step in initiation of the antiviral immune response and is often subject to multiple layers of regulation from both the host and invading viruses. Despite the importance, the molecular mechanism by which RIG-I and MDA5 interact with MAVS and link the upstream viral-detection events to the downstream signaling event is yet unclear. This is partly due to challenges of analyzing protein aggregation or oligomerization, which occurs during signal activation. We here propose to investigate the signal activation process of RIG-I, MDA5 and MAVS using an innovative hybrid approach that systematically integrates structural and biochemical analysis with cellular functional validation. In particular, we will focus on two key steps: (i) homo-oligomerization of te signaling domains (tandem caspase activation recruitment domain, 2CARD) of RIG-I and MDA5, which occurs upon their viral RNA recognition, and (ii) filament formation of MAVS CARD, which occurs upon its interaction with RIG-I/MDA5 2CARD oligomers. We will start with a model system consisting of the isolated signaling domains (i.e. 2CARD and CARD) to understand the detailed molecular and structural mechanisms for how RIG-I and MDA5 2CARDs oligomerize (Aim 1) and how the 2CARD oligomers trigger MAVS CARD filament formation (Aim 2). We will then investigate how the oligomerization and interactions among the signaling domains are regulated in the context of full-length RIG-I and MDA5 during viral RNA recognition (Aim 3). This proposal builds upon our novel findings, including filament formation of MDA5 and RIG-I (Peisley al, PNAS, 2010 & 2011; Mol Cell, 2013), the first crystal structure of the MDA5:dsRNA complex (Wu et al, Cell, 2013) and the recent, unpublished structures of the RIG-I 2CARD tetramer (in Aim 1A) and the MAVS CARD filament (in Aim 2A). These findings provide unprecedented opportunities to address key unresolved issues on the signal activation process of RIG-I and MDA5, both long-debated issues in the field and new questions arising from our discoveries. We expect that the proposed research would reveal novel molecular principles underlying the assembly-mediated signaling mechanism, an emerging paradigm for signal transduction in innate immunity and cell death. Furthermore, our mechanistic understanding could provide novel therapeutic strategies to harness the RIG-I/MDA5/MAVS pathways in treatment of immune disorders and development of antiviral or anticancer vaccine therapies.

Public Health Relevance

Viral infection poses a major challenge to global health as demonstrated in the recent pandemics of H1N1 influenza virus, SARS and HIV. The goal of the current proposal is to understand the molecular mechanisms of viral recognition and signaling by MDA5, RIG-I and MAVS, which together constitute one of the principle innate immune pathways. These signaling pathways have been also implicated in pathogenesis of several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, and were proposed to be a potential therapeutic target in anticancer immunotherapies.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI106912-04
Application #
9262830
Study Section
Cellular and Molecular Immunology - A Study Section (CMIA)
Program Officer
Singleton, Kentner L
Project Start
2014-05-15
Project End
2019-04-30
Budget Start
2017-05-01
Budget End
2018-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston Children's Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
076593722
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Ahmad, Sadeem; Mu, Xin; Yang, Fei et al. (2018) Breaching Self-Tolerance to Alu Duplex RNA Underlies MDA5-Mediated Inflammation. Cell 172:797-810.e13
Mu, Xin; Greenwald, Emily; Ahmad, Sadeem et al. (2018) An origin of the immunogenicity of in vitro transcribed RNA. Nucleic Acids Res 46:5239-5249
Ruaud, Lyse; Rice, Gillian I; Cabrol, Christelle et al. (2018) Autosomal-dominant early-onset spastic paraparesis with brain calcification due to IFIH1 gain-of-function. Hum Mutat 39:1076-1080
Abbott, Jordan K; Huoh, Yu-San; Reynolds, Paul R et al. (2018) Dominant-negative loss of function arises from a second, more frequent variant within the SAND domain of autoimmune regulator (AIRE). J Autoimmun 88:114-120
de Carvalho, Luciana Martins; Ngoumou, Gonza; Park, Ji Woo et al. (2017) Musculoskeletal Disease in MDA5-Related Type I Interferonopathy: A Mendelian Mimic of Jaccoud's Arthropathy. Arthritis Rheumatol 69:2081-2091
Wu, Bin; Huoh, Yu-San; Hur, Sun (2016) Measuring Monomer-to-Filament Transition of MAVS as an In Vitro Activity Assay for RIG-I-Like Receptors. Methods Mol Biol 1390:131-42
Sohn, Jungsan; Hur, Sun (2016) Filament assemblies in foreign nucleic acid sensors. Curr Opin Struct Biol 37:134-44
Mu, X; Ahmad, S; Hur, S (2016) Endogenous Retroelements and the Host Innate Immune Sensors. Adv Immunol 132:47-69
Ahmad, Sadeem; Hur, Sun (2015) Helicases in Antiviral Immunity: Dual Properties as Sensors and Effectors. Trends Biochem Sci 40:576-585
Yao, Hui; Dittmann, Meike; Peisley, Alys et al. (2015) ATP-dependent effector-like functions of RIG-I-like receptors. Mol Cell 58:541-548

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