Since work on this project began in February 2017, we have made a number of key advancements. Our preliminary work using rapamycin on transformed epithelial cell lines has revealed that mTOR inhibition confers a 4- to 20-fold enhancement of infection, depending on the nature of the virus challenge and, specifically, the route of virus entry into cells. Furthermore, we found that the rapamycin-dependent enhancement of infection is reversed by inhibitors of endosomal acidification (v-ATPase), revealing that the enhancement requires active degradation of cellular factors via the lysosomal pathway. Through a number of distinct approaches, we show that mTOR inhibition by multiple drugs leads to lysosomal degradation of IFITM3 in an autophage-independent manner. Instead, endocytic trafficking through multivesicular bodies is necessary to delivery of IFITM3 to lysosomes, as confirmed by a functional requirement of ESCRT member TSG101. By studying mutant IFITM3 constructs, we found that mTOR inhibition leads to clearance of IFITM2 and IFITM3 from endosomes in a manner that is dependent on endocytosis, ubiquitination, and lysosomal acidification. Furthermore, the complex including mTOR that functionally modulates IFITM3 levels is mTORC2. This work is the first instance to describe an interrelationship between mTOR, cell-intrinsic antiviral immunity, and virus entry into cells. These results have been assembled into a manuscript, which is ready for submission.
