A type I IFN-dependent DNA damage response regulates the genetic program and inflammasome activation in macrophages

  1. Abigail J Morales
  2. Javier A Carrero
  3. Putzer J Hung
  4. Anthony T Tubbs
  5. Jared M Andrews
  6. Brian T Edelson
  7. Boris Calderon
  8. Cynthia L Innes
  9. Richard S Paules
  10. Jacqueline E Payton
  11. Barry P Sleckman  Is a corresponding author
  1. Weill Cornell Medical College, United States
  2. Washington University School of Medicine, United States
  3. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, United States

Abstract

Macrophages produce genotoxic agents, such as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, that kill invading pathogens. Here we show that these agents activate the DNA damage response (DDR) kinases ATM and DNA-PKcs through the generation of double stranded breaks (DSBs) in murine macrophage genomic DNA. In contrast to other cell types, initiation of this DDR depends on signaling from the type I interferon receptor. Once activated, ATM and DNA-PKcs regulate a genetic program with diverse immune functions and promote inflammasome activation and the production of IL-1β and IL-18. Indeed, following infection with Listeria monocytogenes, DNA-PKcs-deficient murine macrophages produce reduced levels of IL-18 and are unable to optimally stimulate IFN-γ production by NK cells. Thus, genomic DNA DSBs act as signaling intermediates in murine macrophages, regulating innate immune responses through the initiation of a type I IFN-dependent DDR.

Data availability

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Abigail J Morales

    Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Javier A Carrero

    Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Putzer J Hung

    Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Anthony T Tubbs

    Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Jared M Andrews

    Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Brian T Edelson

    Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Boris Calderon

    Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Cynthia L Innes

    Environmental Stress and Cancer Group, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Richard S Paules

    Environmental Stress and Cancer Group, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Jacqueline E Payton

    Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  11. Barry P Sleckman

    Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, United States
    For correspondence
    bas2022@med.cornell.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-8295-4462

Funding

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01 AI047829)

  • Barry P Sleckman

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01 AI074953)

  • Barry P Sleckman

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All mice were bred and maintained under specific pathogen-free conditions at the Washington University School of Medicine and Weill Cornell Medical College under protocol number 2015-0036. Mice were handled in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Division of Comparative Medicine of Washington University and the Research Animal Research Center at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Copyright

© 2017, Morales et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 4,435
    views
  • 900
    downloads
  • 49
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Abigail J Morales
  2. Javier A Carrero
  3. Putzer J Hung
  4. Anthony T Tubbs
  5. Jared M Andrews
  6. Brian T Edelson
  7. Boris Calderon
  8. Cynthia L Innes
  9. Richard S Paules
  10. Jacqueline E Payton
  11. Barry P Sleckman
(2017)
A type I IFN-dependent DNA damage response regulates the genetic program and inflammasome activation in macrophages
eLife 6:e24655.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.24655

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.24655

Further reading

    1. Immunology and Inflammation
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    Colleen A Maillie, Kiana Golden ... Marco Mravic
    Research Article

    A potent class of HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) targets the envelope glycoprotein’s membrane proximal exposed region (MPER) through a proposed mechanism where hypervariable loops embed into lipid bilayers and engage headgroup moieties alongside the epitope. We address the feasibility and determinant molecular features of this mechanism using multi-scale modeling. All-atom simulations of 4E10, PGZL1, 10E8, and LN01 docked onto HIV-like membranes consistently form phospholipid complexes at key complementarity-determining region loop sites, solidifying that stable and specific lipid interactions anchor bnAbs to membrane surfaces. Ancillary protein-lipid contacts reveal surprising contributions from antibody framework regions. Coarse-grained simulations effectively capture antibodies embedding into membranes. Simulations estimating protein-membrane interaction strength for PGZL1 variants along an inferred maturation pathway show bilayer affinity is evolved and correlates with neutralization potency. The modeling demonstrated here uncovers insights into lipid participation in antibodies’ recognition of membrane proteins and highlights antibody features to prioritize in vaccine design.

    1. Immunology and Inflammation
    Xiaoyu Meng, Yezhang Zhu ... Lie Wang
    Research Article

    FOXP3-expressing regulatory T (Treg) cells play a pivotal role in maintaining immune homeostasis and tolerance, with their activation being crucial for preventing various inflammatory responses. However, the mechanisms governing the epigenetic program in Treg cells during their dynamic activation remain unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that CXXC-finger protein 1 (CXXC1) interacts with the transcription factor FOXP3 and facilitates the regulation of target genes by modulating H3K4me3 deposition. Cxxc1 deletion in Treg cells leads to severe inflammatory disease and spontaneous T cell activation, with impaired immunosuppressive function. As a transcriptional regulator, CXXC1 promotes the expression of key Treg functional markers under steady-state conditions, which are essential for the maintenance of Treg cell homeostasis and their suppressive functions. Epigenetically, CXXC1 binds to the genomic regulatory regions of Treg program genes in mouse Treg cells, overlapping with FOXP3-binding sites. Given its critical role in Treg cell homeostasis, CXXC1 presents itself as a promising therapeutic target for autoimmune diseases.