University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover THESIS DOCTOR OF
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University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Institute for Experimental Infection Research TWINCORE, Center for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, GmbH MicroRNAs as biomarkers in the host response to influenza A virus infection in humans and animals THESIS Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PhD) Awarded by the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover By Mohamed Samir Ahmed Mohamed Zagazig, El-Sharkia province, Egypt Hannover, Germany (2016) Supervisor: PD Dr. med. Frank Pessler Supervision Group: Prof. Dr. med. vet. Silke Rautenschlein Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Klaus Schughart 1st evaluation: PD Dr. med. Frank Pessler Institute for experimental Infection Research,TWINCORE, Center for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research Hannover, Germany Prof. Dr. med. vet. Silke Rautenschlein Head, Clinic for Poultry, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Hannover, Germany Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Klaus Schughart Department of Infection Genetics Helmholtz Center for Infection Research Braunschweig, Germany Memphis, Tennessee, United States. 2nd evaluation: Prof. Dr. med. vet. Martin Beer FLIFLI, of Insel Tennessee Riems Health Science Center Institute of Viral Diagnostics Greifswald, Insel Riems, Germany Date of final exam: 18.03.2016 Parts of this thesis that have been submitted/accepted for publication: Manuscript I: In preparation Manuscript II: In revision for “Frontiers in Veterinary Science” Manuscript III: In revision for “Archives of Virology” Manuscript IV: In preparation Manuscript V: In preparation Sponsorship statement: Financial support of this study was from the German Egyptian Research Long-term Scholarship (GERLS), a joint program between the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (grant ID: A/11/92510). Additional funds came from iMed, the Helmholtz Association’s Initiative on Personalized Medicine. To my parents, sisters and wife Table of contents Summary (English version) …………….......................…………………………….7 Zusammenfassung (German version)……………....................……….………....10 1. Introduction 1.1. Influenza A Virus (IAV)………..………………...................….……..14 1.1.1. Epidemiology and significance of IAVs …………………….….….14 1.1.2. Morphology of IAVs…………………………………………...….....15 1.1.3. IAV replication cycle …………………………………………….…..16 1.1.4. Host factors involved in IAV infection ………………………...…...18 1.1.4.1. Chemokines ……………………………………….…….18 1.1.4.2. Cytokines ………………………………………………...19 1.1.5. Host range of IAVs ………………………………………………….20 1.2. MicroRNAs (miRNAs)…………………………………………….……21 1.2.1. Nomenclature of miRNA………………………...………….……....22 1.2.2. MiRNA biogenesis and mechanism of action ……………....……22 1.2.3. Potential roles of miRNA as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers……………………………….…..………………….……23 1.2.4. MiRNAs in IAV infection……………………………………..……...24 2. Objectives………………………………………………………...………......... 26 3. Results 3.1. Manuscript I: Host-encoded microRNA associated with viral infectious diseases of veterinary importance: general aspects and role in pathobiology…………………………………………..…….28 3.2. Manuscript II: Small non-coding RNAs associated with viral infectious diseases of veterinary importance: potential clinical applications……….………….………………………..…….……….…..83 3.3. Manuscript III: Pandemic 2009 H1N1 variants and toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands induce cell- and virus-specific miRNA expression in A549 and dTHP-1 cells………………..…...…….……125 3.4. Manuscript IV: A previously uncharacterized Egyptian strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) emerged in clade 2.2.1.2 and is highly pathogenic in an experimentally infected domestic duck breed ……..……………………….……….…….…...158 3.5. Manuscript V: Highly pathogenic influenza A virus (H5N1) induces tissue-specific differential expression of small non-coding RNAs in experimentally infected duck……………….…….…..……...….…190 3.6. Own contributions to the manuscripts….………….…………….246 4. Unpublished Data 4.1. Differential miRNA expression in genetically diverse H1N1-infected mouse strains………..……..…………………….......247 4.2. Establishment of human lung tissue explants (HLTE) to study miRNAs expression in response to 2009 swine-origin influenza viruses (S-OIVs) of differential virulence……………….………...….259 5. Discussion……………………………………………………………………..278 6. Conclusions and outlook ……………………………………………………287 7. References …………………………………………………………………….289 8. Affidavit…………………………………………………………………………298 9. Acknowledgements………………………..………………………….……...299 10. Curriculum Vitae………………………………………………..………....….301 Summary “MicroRNAs as biomarkers in the host response to influenza A virus infection in humans and animals” Mohamed Samir Ahmed Mohamed Influenza A virus (IAV) is a negative sense, single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the family of Orthomyxoviridae. In addition to the seasonal epidemics, it caused three human pandemics in the last century (1918 A/H1N1, 1957 A/H2N2, and 1968 A/H3N2). In 2009, the world was confronted with the fourth pandemic caused by a triple reassortant H1N1 virus. The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses of the subtype H5N1 are unique in that they are highly lethal to birds and are able to cross the species barrier and infect humans. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non- coding RNAs (sncRNAs) that are able to fine-tune gene expression. The modulation of miRNAs under pathological conditions raises the possibilities of utilizing them as host biomarkers to pinpoint the disease in question and track its progress. This applies similarly to IAV at the farm level, where these small molecules might aid sensing the very early cases before the outbreaks spread widely. The objectives of my thesis were to investigate the importance of miRNAs as components of the host response to IAVs in humans and animals and to identify candidate miRNAs that might be used as future biomarkers. Before starting the experiments, I performed a literature search with the aim to review the up-to-date known roles of host-encoded miRNAs in infectious viral diseases of veterinary importance and the potential of using small non-coding RNAs to limit and/or prevent infectious viral diseases in livestock of veterinary importance. This resulted in two review articles (Manuscript I and II). In the first part of the experimental work (section 4.1 in Unpublished Data), I used reverse transcriptase real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) to validate the results of next generation sequencing (NGS; specifically, small RNA sequencing, small RNA-seq) with regard to the relative expression levels of a set of miRNAs. Those miRNAs have been previously identified by Dr. Matthias Preuße (Helmholtz Center for Infection 7 Research) to be associated with susceptibility to PR8 H1N1 in murine system. As a result, both approaches agreed to a high degree, indicating that RT-qPCR is a valid method to confirm the results of RNA-seq. In the second part (Manuscript III), I established in vitro assays comprising human cell lines to study the cell type-specific expression of miRNAs following stimulation with toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists and after infection with 2009 swine-origin influenza virus wild type (S-OIV wt) and S-OIV NS PR8, a reassortant variant of it that carries the NS segment of the PR8 H1N1 virus. The findings indicated that S- OIV NS PR8 triggered a cell-dependent alteration of certain miRNA (e.g. miR-223 and miR-155) as compared to the S-OIV wt. The data also show that while the infection with both viruses caused higher expression of miRNAs in human lung epithelial (A549) than in macrophage-like (dTHP-1) cell lines, the TLR agonists (LPS and R848) displayed the reverse pattern. In the third part of my thesis (Manuscripts IV and V), I aimed to analyze the miRNA responses to the HPAI virus H5N1 in a natural host. Therefore, a native duck breed (derived from Anas platyrhynchos) was experimentally infected with A/chicken/Faquos/amn12/2011(H5N1) virus, an Egyptian isolate that, according to my phylogenetic analyses, belongs to the recently emerging clade 2.2.1.2. The initial viral characterization revealed that brain, compared to other organs notably lung, exhibited much lower viral transcription, growth rate and associated tissue- pathology. As these results suggested an organ-specific host response to HPAI H5N1 virus infection, small RNA-seq. was employed to test the hypothesis if there is a unique miRNA response in these organs. As a result, the overall degree of miRNA reprogramming was higher and manifested earlier in lung than in brain. In both organs, the magnitude of the miRNA response reached the peak during the late infection stage (72-120 hpi), following the peak of viral transcription, arguing that the miRNA reprogramming is part of the host tissue response to viral transcription and, consequently, replication. I also identified common and organ-specific miRNAs that have a characteristic clustering pattern, including miR-183, miR-194, miR-205 and miR-215. Generally, gene ontologies such as T-helper cell differentiation and Positive regulation of JUN kinase activity were commonly enriched in both organs. Although certain pathways were enriched in both organs such as MAPK and Jak- 8 STAT signaling pathways, their enrichment degree was higher in lung than in brain. Considered together, these results propose the involvement of miRNAs in the organ- specific response to HPAI H5N1 and that their regulatory roles might shape the replication of the virus in different duck tissues. Furthermore, this study suggests possibilities