The wide transmission and host adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 have led to the rapid accumulation of mutations,posing significant challenges to the effectiveness of vaccines and therapeutic antibodies.Although several neutra...The wide transmission and host adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 have led to the rapid accumulation of mutations,posing significant challenges to the effectiveness of vaccines and therapeutic antibodies.Although several neutralizing antibodies were authorized for emergency clinical use,convalescent patients derived natural antibodies are vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 Spike mutation.展开更多
The global coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARSCoV-2),a positive-sense RNA virus.How the host immune system senses and responds to SARS-CoV-2 inf...The global coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARSCoV-2),a positive-sense RNA virus.How the host immune system senses and responds to SARS-CoV-2 infection remain largely unresolved.Here,we report that SARS-CoV-2 infection activates the innate immune response through the cytosolic DNA sensing cGAS-STING pathway.SARS-CoV-2 infection induces the cellular level of 2′3′-cGAMP associated with STING activation.cGAS recognizes chromatin DNA shuttled from the nucleus as a result of cell-to-cell fusion upon SARS-CoV-2 infection.We further demonstrate that the expression of spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 from host cells is sufficient to trigger cytoplasmic chromatin upon cell fusion.Furthermore,cytoplasmic chromatin-cGAS-STING pathway,but not MAVS-mediated viral RNA sensing pathway,contributes to interferon and pro-inflammatory gene expression upon cell fusion.Finally,we show that cGAS is required for host antiviral responses against SARS-CoV-2,and a STING-activating compound potently inhibits viral replication.Together,our study reported a previously unappreciated mechanism by which the host innate immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2 infection,mediated by cytoplasmic chromatin from the infected cells.Targeting the cytoplasmic chromatin-cGAS-STING pathway may offer novel therapeutic opportunities in treating COVID-19.In addition,these findings extend our knowledge in host defense against viral infection by showing that host cells’self-nucleic acids can be employed as a“danger signal”to alarm the immune system.展开更多
基金This work was supported by CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences(2021-I2M-1-038)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81871667 and 82002153).
文摘The wide transmission and host adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 have led to the rapid accumulation of mutations,posing significant challenges to the effectiveness of vaccines and therapeutic antibodies.Although several neutralizing antibodies were authorized for emergency clinical use,convalescent patients derived natural antibodies are vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 Spike mutation.
基金This work was supported by grants from National Key R&D Program of China(2020YFA0707600 to Z.Z.,2020YFA0707800 to W.Wei.)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81930063,31870893,and 81971948 to J.W.,Z.Z.,and X.L.)+3 种基金the National Major Sciences&Technology Project for Control and Prevention of Major Infectious Diseases in China(2018ZX10301401 to Z.Z.and X.L.)the Beijing Municipal Science&Technology Commission(Z181100001318009)Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences(CAMS)Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences(2016-I2M-1-014,2016-I2M-1-005 to J.W.and X.L.)the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics(ICG)at Peking University,and the Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences.
文摘The global coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARSCoV-2),a positive-sense RNA virus.How the host immune system senses and responds to SARS-CoV-2 infection remain largely unresolved.Here,we report that SARS-CoV-2 infection activates the innate immune response through the cytosolic DNA sensing cGAS-STING pathway.SARS-CoV-2 infection induces the cellular level of 2′3′-cGAMP associated with STING activation.cGAS recognizes chromatin DNA shuttled from the nucleus as a result of cell-to-cell fusion upon SARS-CoV-2 infection.We further demonstrate that the expression of spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 from host cells is sufficient to trigger cytoplasmic chromatin upon cell fusion.Furthermore,cytoplasmic chromatin-cGAS-STING pathway,but not MAVS-mediated viral RNA sensing pathway,contributes to interferon and pro-inflammatory gene expression upon cell fusion.Finally,we show that cGAS is required for host antiviral responses against SARS-CoV-2,and a STING-activating compound potently inhibits viral replication.Together,our study reported a previously unappreciated mechanism by which the host innate immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2 infection,mediated by cytoplasmic chromatin from the infected cells.Targeting the cytoplasmic chromatin-cGAS-STING pathway may offer novel therapeutic opportunities in treating COVID-19.In addition,these findings extend our knowledge in host defense against viral infection by showing that host cells’self-nucleic acids can be employed as a“danger signal”to alarm the immune system.
