Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is a common cause of lower respiratory tract illness in infants and children. RSV is a negative-sense, single-strand RNA (ssRNA) virus that mainly infects airway epithelial cells. Accumulating evidence indicates that reactive oxygen species (ROS) production is a major factor for pulmonary inflammation and tissue damage of RSV disease. We investigated immune-responsive gene-1 (IRG1) expression during RSV infection, since IRG1 has been shown to mediate innate immune response to intracellular bacterial pathogens by modulating ROS and itaconic acid production. We found that RSV infection induced IRG1 expression in human A549 cells and in the lung tissues of RSV-infected mice. RSV infection or IRG1 overexpression promoted ROS production. Accordingly, knockdown of IRG1 induction blocked RSV-induced ROS production and proinflammatory cytokine gene expression. Finally, we showed that suppression of IRG1 induction reduced immune cell infiltration and prevented lung injury in RSV-infected mice. These results therefore link IRG1 induction to ROS production and immune lung injury after RSV infection.
IMPORTANCERSV infection is among the most common causes of childhood diseases. Recent studies identify ROS production as a factor contributing to RSV disease. We investigated the cause of ROS production and identified IRG1 as a critical factor linking ROS production to immune lung injury after RSV infection. We found that IRG1 was induced in A549 alveolar epithelial cells and in mouse lungs after RSV infection. Importantly, suppression of IRG1 induction reduced inflammatory cell infiltration and lung injury in mice. This study links IRG1 induction to oxidative damage and RSV disease. It also uncovers a potential therapeutic target in reducing RSV-caused lung injury.
Human infection with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of childhood disease of lower respiratory tract infection with common cold-like symptoms. The infection is frequently associated with the development of bronchospasm and bronchiolitis, particularly in children less than 1 year old. Globally, RSV is responsible for over 33 million new episodes of acute lower respiratory tract infection in children, with at least 3.4 million severe cases that require hospital admissions each year (1, 2). A growing body of evidence shows that RSV infection has become a significant burden in the elderly in industrialized countries (3-6). In addition, RSV infection may contribute to the onset of development of type 2 diabetes (7). Proinflammatory response in the lung is thought to play a fundamental role in RSV disease, but the mechanisms regulating RSV disease and long-term consequences are incompletely defined (8-13).RSV is a negative-sense, single-strand RNA virus of the family Paramyxoviridae, which also includes common respiratory viruses such as those causing measles and mumps. Human RSV infects polarized epithelial cells in the airway and, to lesser degrees, macrophages and dendritic cells (14,15). RSV stimul...