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The E3 ubiquitin ligase Nrdp1 'preferentially' promotes TLR-mediated production of type I interferon

Nature Immunology volume 10, pages 744–752 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

E3 ubiquitin ligases are important in both innate and adaptive immunity. Here we report that Nrdp1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, inhibited the production of proinflammatory cytokines but increased interferon-β production in Toll-like receptor–triggered macrophages by suppressing adaptor MyD88–dependent activation of transcription factors NF-κB and AP-1 while promoting activation of the kinase TBK1 and transcription factor IRF3. Nrdp1 directly bound and polyubiquitinated MyD88 and TBK1, which led to degradation of MyD88 and activation of TBK1. Knockdown of Nrdp1 inhibited the degradation of MyD88 and the activation of TBK1 and IRF3. Nrdp1-transgenic mice showed resistance to lipopolysaccharide-induced endotoxin shock and to infection with vesicular stomatitis virus. Our data suggest that Nrdp1 functions as both an adaptor protein and an E3 unbiquitin ligase to regulate TLR responses in different ways.

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Figure 1: Nrdp1 inhibits TLR-induced production of proinflammatory cytokines but promotes the production of type I interferon in macrophages.
Figure 2: Nrdp1 protects mice from lethal LPS challenge.
Figure 3: Nrdp1 protects mice from VSV infection both in vitro and in vivo.
Figure 4: Nrdp1 inhibits TLR-induced activation of NFκB and AP-1 reporters but promotes the transactivation of IRF3 and IFN-β reporters.
Figure 5: Nrdp1 binds MyD88 and TBK1.
Figure 6: Nrdp1 polyubiquitinates MyD88 and TBK1.
Figure 7: Nrdp1 inhibits the TLR-induced MyD88-dependent pathway by degrading MyD88.
Figure 8: Nrdp1 promotes the activation of TBK1 and IRF3.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Akira (Research Institute for Microbial Diseases) for Myd88−/− mice; X. Yang (Beijing Institute of Biotechnology) for pIRES2-EGFP vector; Z.J. Chen (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) for TAK1 plasmid; T. Maniatis (Harvard University) for TBK1 and kinase-inactive TBK1 plasmids; S.J. Martin (Trinity College) for pGL3.5XêB-luciferase reporter plasmid; T Fujita (Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science) for IRF3 reporter plasmids; Z. Wang for help in preparing Nrdp1-TG mice; H. An and W. Zhang for discussions; and Y. Li and M. Jin for technical assistance. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30721091, 30572122 and 30771118), the Foundation for the Author of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of China (200775), the 973 National Key Basic Research Program of China (2007CB512403) and the Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology (06DJ14011 and 07QA14067).

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  1. Chen Wang and Taoyong Chen: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology & Institute of Immunology, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China

    Chen Wang, Taoyong Chen, Jia Zhang, Mingjin Yang, Nan Li, Xiongfei Xu & Xuetao Cao

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  1. Chen Wang
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Contributions

X.C. and T.C. designed and supervised the experiments; C.W., T.C., M.Y., J.Z., N.L. and X.X. did experiments and analyzed data; and X.C. and T.C. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xuetao Cao.

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Wang, C., Chen, T., Zhang, J. et al. The E3 ubiquitin ligase Nrdp1 'preferentially' promotes TLR-mediated production of type I interferon. Nat Immunol 10, 744–752 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.1742

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