Host modulators of H1N1 cytopathogenicity

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 7; no. 8; p. e39284
• Main Authors: Ward, Samuel E, Kim, Hyun Seok, Komurov, Kakajan, Mendiratta, Saurabh, Tsai, Pei-Ling, Schmolke, Mirco, Satterly, Neal, Manicassamy, Balaji, Forst, Christian V, Roth, Michael G, García-Sastre, Adolfo, Blazewska, Katarzyna M, McKenna, Charles E, Fontoura, Beatriz M, White, Michael A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 02-08-2012; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animals; Apoptosis; Biology; Cancer; Cell activation; Cell division; Cell Line; Chemistry; Cluster Analysis; Command and control; Command and control systems; Cytopathogenic Effect, Viral; Decoding; Drug resistance; Epithelial cells; Epithelial Cells - virology; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Regulatory Networks; Genetic screening; Genomes; Genomics; Health aspects; HIV; Host-Pathogen Interactions - genetics; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infection; Infections; Influenza; Influenza A; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype - drug effects; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype - physiology; Inhibition; Lactates - pharmacology; Life cycle engineering; Life cycles; Medical schools; Medicine; Modulators; Molecular Sequence Annotation; Morbidity; Organophosphonates - pharmacology; Pandemics; Pharmacology; Proteins; Respiratory Mucosa - virology; RNA Interference; RNA polymerase; siRNA; Suicide; Swine influenza; Vaccines; Viral infections; Viral proteins; Virulence; Virulence factors; Virus diseases; Virus Replication; Viruses; Los Angeles California; New York; California; United States > US; Texas
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039284

Influenza A virus infects 5-20% of the population annually, resulting in ~35,000 deaths and significant morbidity. Current treatments include vaccines and drugs that target viral proteins. However, both of these approaches have limitations, as vaccines require yearly development and the rapid evolution of viral proteins gives rise to drug resistance. In consequence additional intervention strategies, that target host factors required for the viral life cycle, are under investigation. Here we employed arrayed whole-genome siRNA screening strategies to identify cell-autonomous molecular components that are subverted to support H1N1 influenza A virus infection of human bronchial epithelial cells. Integration across relevant public data sets exposed druggable gene products required for epithelial cell infection or required for viral proteins to deflect host cell suicide checkpoint activation. Pharmacological inhibition of representative targets, RGGT and CHEK1, resulted in significant protection against infection of human epithelial cells by the A/WS/33 virus. In addition, chemical inhibition of RGGT partially protected against H5N1 and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic strain. The observations reported here thus contribute to an expanding body of studies directed at decoding vulnerabilities in the command and control networks specified by influenza virulence factors.