Phosphoinositide-3 kinase inhibition modulates responses to rhinovirus by mechanisms that are predominantly independent of autophagy

Human rhinoviruses (HRV) are a major cause of exacerbations of airways disease. Aspects of cell signalling responses to HRV infection remain unclear, particularly with regard to signalling via PI3K, and the PI3K-dependent pathway, autophagy. We investigated the roles of PI3K and autophagy in the responses of epithelial cells to major and minor group HRV infection. The PI3K inhibitor 3-MA, commonly used to inhibit autophagy, markedly reduced HRV-induced cytokine induction. Further investigation of potential targets of 3-MA and comparison of results using this inhibitor to a panel of general and class I-selective PI3K inhibitors showed that several PI3Ks cooperatively regulate responses to HRV. Targeting by siRNA of the autophagy proteins Beclin-1, Atg7, LC3, alone or in combination, or targeting of the autophagy-specific class III PI3K had at most only modest effects on HRV-induced cell signalling as judged by induction of proinflammatory cytokine production. Our data indicate that PI3K and mTOR are involved in induction of proinflammatory cytokines after HRV infection, and that autophagy has little role in the cytokine response to HRV or control of HRV replication

Control of the innate immune response by the mevalonate pathway

Deficiency of mevalonate kinase (MVK) causes systemic inflammation. However, the molecular mechanisms linking the mevalonate pathway to inflammation remain obscure. Geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP), a non-sterol intermediate of the mevalonate pathway, is the substrate for protein geranylgeranylation, protein post-translational modification catalyzed by protein geranylgeranyl transferase I (GGTase I). Pyrin is an innate immune sensor that forms an active inflammasome in response to bacterial toxins. Mutations in MEFV (encoding human PYRIN) cause autoinflammatory Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) syndrome. Here, we show that protein geranylgeranylation enables Toll-like receptor (TLR)-induced phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase PI(3)K) activation by promoting the interaction between the small GTPase Kras and the PI(3)K catalytic subunit p110δ. Macrophages deficient for GGTase I or p110δ exhibited constitutive interleukin-1β release that was MEFV-dependent, but NLRP3-, AIM2- and NLRC4- inflammasome independent. In the absence of protein geranylgeranylation, compromised PI(3)K activity allows for an unchecked TLR-induced inflammatory responses and constitutive activation of the Pyrin inflammasome