HIV-1 Vpu is a potent transcriptional suppressor of NF-κB-elicited antiviral immune responses.

ABSTRACT: Many viral pathogens target innate sensing cascades and/or cellular transcription factors to suppress antiviral immune responses. Here, we show that the accessory viral protein U (Vpu) of HIV-1 exerts broad immunosuppressive effects by inhibiting activation of the transcription factor NF-κB. Global transcriptional profiling of infected CD4 +T cells revealed that vpu-deficient HIV-1 strains induce substantially stronger immune responses than the respective wild type viruses. Gene set enrichment analyses and cytokine arrays showed that Vpu suppresses the expression of NF-κB targets including interferons and restriction factors. Mutational analyses demonstrated that this immunosuppressive activity of Vpu is independent of its ability to counteract the restriction factor and innate sens

SUBMITTER: Langer S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6372280 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature