Person:

Chow, Nancy Ann-Marie

Tuberculosis (TB) disease in HIV co-infected patients contributes to increased mortality by activating innate and adaptive immune signaling cascades that stimulate HIV-1 replication, leading to an increase in viral load. Here, we demonstrate that silencing of the expression of the transcription factor nuclear factor of activated T cells 5 (NFAT5) by RNA interference (RNAi) inhibits Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb)-stimulated HIV-1 replication in co-infected macrophages. We show that NFAT5 gene and protein expression are strongly induced by MTb, which is a Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligand, and that an intact NFAT5 binding site in the viral promoter of R5-tropic HIV-1 subtype B and subtype C molecular clones is required for efficent induction of HIV-1 replication by MTb. Furthermore, silencing by RNAi of key components of the TLR pathway in human monocytes, including the downstream signaling molecules MyD88, IRAK1, and TRAF6, significantly inhibits MTb-induced NFAT5 gene expression. Thus, the innate immune response to MTb infection induces NFAT5 gene and protein expression, and NFAT5 plays a crucial role in MTb regulation of HIV-1 replication via a direct interaction with the viral promoter. These findings also demonstrate a general role for NFAT5 in TLR- and MTb-mediated control of gene expression.

TNF is an inflammatory cytokine that plays a critical role in the acute phase response to infection, and its dysregulation has been implicated in the pathology of several inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. TNF gene expression is regulated in a cell type- and inducer-specific manner that involves chromatin alterations at both the TNF promoter and distal DNase I hypersensitive (DH) sites within the TNF/LT locus. While the mechanisms underlying TNF gene activation in monocytes/macrophages and T cells have been studied intensively, the mechanisms of enhanced, repressed, and restored TNF gene expression in the context of classical macrophage activation and endotoxin tolerance remain largely unknown. We set out to understand how TNF gene expression is modulated during these biological processes by characterizing the chromatin environment of the TNF/LT locus.