The combination of type I interferon and ribavirin has an inhibitory effect on mouse hepatitis virus infection

Ribavirin suppresses bacterial virulence by targeting LysR-type transcriptional regulators

Targeting bacterial virulence mechanisms without compromising bacterial growth is a promising strategy to prevent drug resistance. LysR-type transcriptional regulators (LTTRs) possess structural conservation across bacterial species and regulate virulence in numerous pathogens, making them attractive targets for antimicrobial agents. We targeted AphB, a Vibrio cholerae LTTR, which regulates the expression of genes encoding cholera toxin and toxin-co-regulated pilus for inhibitor designing. Since AphB ligand is unknown, we followed a molecular fragment-based approach for ligand designing using FDA-approved drugs and subsequent screen to identify molecules that exhibited high-affinity binding to AphB ligand-binding pocket. Among the identified compounds, ribavirin, an anti-viral drug, antagonized AphB functions. Ribavirin perturbed Vibrio cholerae pathogenesis in animal models. The inhibitory effects of the drug was limited to the bacteria expressing wild type AphB, but not its constitutively active mutant (AphB_N100E), which represents the ligand-bound state, suggesting that ribavirin binds to the active site of AphB to exert its inhibitory role and there exists no AphB-independent mechanism of its action. Similarly, ribavirin suppressed the functions of Salmonella Typhi LTTR Hrg, indicating its broad spectrum efficacy. Moreover, ribavirin did not affect the bacterial viability in culture. This study cites an example of drug repurposing for anti-infective therapy.

Murine coronavirus delays expression of a subset of interferon-stimulated genes

The importance of the type I interferon (IFN-I) system in limiting coronavirus replication and dissemination has been unequivocally demonstrated by rapid lethality following infection of mice lacking the alpha/beta IFN (IFN-alpha/beta) receptor with mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), a murine coronavirus. Interestingly, MHV has a cell-type-dependent ability to resist the antiviral effects of IFN-alpha/beta. In primary bone-marrow-derived macrophages and mouse embryonic fibroblasts, MHV replication was significantly reduced by the IFN-alpha/beta-induced antiviral state, whereas IFN treatment of cell lines (L2 and 293T) has only minor effects on replication (K. M. Rose and S. R. Weiss, Viruses 1:689-712, 2009). Replication of other RNA viruses, including Theiler's murine encephalitis virus (TMEV), vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), Sindbis virus, Newcastle disease virus (NDV), and Sendai virus (SeV), was significantly inhibited in L2 cells treated with IFN-alpha/beta, and MHV had the ability to rescue only SeV replication. We present evidence that MHV infection can delay interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) induction mediated by both SeV and IFN-beta but only when MHV infection precedes SeV or IFN-beta exposure. Curiously, we observed no block in the well-defined IFN-beta signaling pathway that leads to STAT1-STAT2 phosphorylation and translocation to the nucleus in cultures infected with MHV. This observation suggests that MHV must inhibit an alternative IFN-induced pathway that is essential for early induction of ISGs. The ability of MHV to delay SeV-mediated ISG production may partially involve limiting the ability of IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3) to function as a transcription factor. Transcription from an IRF-3-responsive promoter was partially inhibited by MHV; however, IRF-3 was transported to the nucleus and bound DNA in MHV-infected cells superinfected with SeV.

Murine Coronavirus Cell Type Dependent Interaction with the Type I Interferon Response

Coronaviruses infect many species of animal including humans, causing acute and chronic diseases of many organ systems. Murine coronavirus, mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) infection of the mouse, provides animal models for the study of central nervous system disease, including encephalitis and demyelinating diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and for hepatitis. While there are many studies of the adaptive immune response to MHV, there has until recently been scant information on the type I interferon (IFN) response to MHV. The relationship between MHV and the IFN-α/β response is paradoxical. While the type I IFN response is a crucial aspect of host defense against MHV in its natural host, there is little if any induction of IFN following infection of mouse fibroblast cell lines in vitro. Furthermore, MHV is relatively resistant to the antiviral effects of IFN-α/β in mouse fibroblast cell lines and in human 293T cells. MHV can, under some circumstances, compromise the antiviral effects of IFN signaling. The nucleocapsid protein as well as the nsp1 and nsp3 proteins of MHV has been reported to have IFN antagonist activity. However, in primary cell types such as plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) and macrophages, IFN is induced by MHV infection and an antiviral state is established. Other primary cell types such as neurons, astrocytes and hepatocytes fail to produce IFN following infection and, in vivo, likely depend on IFN produced by pDCs and macrophages for protection from MHV. Thus MHV induction of IFN-α/β and the ability to induce an antiviral state in response to interferon is extremely cell type dependent. IFN induced protection from MHV pathogenesis likely requires the orchestrated activities of several cell types, however, the cell types involved in limiting MHV replication may be different in the liver and in the immune privileged CNS.