Volume 21, No 5, May 2011

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 21 Issue 5, May 2011: 793-806

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

bA human herpesvirus miRNA attenuates interferon signaling and contributes to maintenance of viral latency by targeting IKKε

Deguang Liang, Yuan Gao, Xianzhi Lin, Zhiheng He, Qinglan Zhao, Qiang Deng and Ke Lan

Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology, Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 225 South Chongqing Road, Shanghai 200025, China Correspondence: Ke Lan,(lanke@sibs.ac.cn)

Type I interferon (IFN) signaling is the principal response mediating antiviral innate immunity. IFN transcription is dependent upon the activation of transcription factors IRF3/IRF7 and NF-κB. Many viral proteins have been shown as being capable of interfering with IFN signaling to facilitate evasion from the host innate immune response. Here, we report that a viral miRNA, miR-K12-11, encoded by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is critical for the modulation of IFN signaling and acts through targeting I-kappa-B kinase epsilon (IKKε). Ectopic expression of miR-K12-11 resulted in decreased IKKε expression, while inhibition of miR-K12-11 was found to restore IKKε expression in KSHV-infected cells. Importantly, expression of miR-K12-11 attenuated IFN signaling by decreasing IKKε-mediated IRF3/IRF7 phosphorylation and by inhibiting the activation of IKKε-dependent IFN stimulating genes (ISGs), allowing miR-K12-11 suppression of antiviral immunity. Our data suggest that IKKε targeting by miR-K12-11 is an important strategy utilized by KSHV to modulate IFN signaling during the KSHV lifecycle, especially in latency. We also demonstrated that IKKε was able to enhance KSHV reactivation synergistically with the treatment of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate. Moreover, inhibition of miR-K12-11 enhanced KSHV reactivation induced by vesicular stomatitis virus infection. Taken together, our findings also suggest that miR-K12-11 can contribute to maintenance of KSHV latency by targeting IKKε.

Cell Research (2011) 21:793-806. doi:10.1038/cr.2011.5; published online 11 January 2011

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