Hantaviruses are predominantly rodent-borne pathogens, although recently novel shrew-associated hantaviruses were found. Within natural reservoir hosts, hantairuses do not cause obvious pathogenetic effects; transmission to humans, however, can lead to hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome or hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, depending on the virus species involved. This review is focussed on the recent knowledge on hantavirus-induced immune responses in rodent reservoirs and humans and their impact on susceptibility, transmission, and outcome of hantavirus infections. In addition, this review incorporates a discussion on the potential role of direct cell-virus interactions in the pathogenesis of hantavirus infections in humans. Finally, questions for further research efforts on the immune responses in potential hantavirus reservoir hosts and humans are summarized.

Summary Host defense to RNA viruses depends on rapid intracellular recognition of viral RNA by two cytoplasmic RNA helicases, RIG-I and MDA5. RNA transfection experiments indicate that RIG-I responds to naked double-stranded (ds) RNAs with a triphosphorylated 5′ (5′ppp) terminus. However, identity of the RIG-I stimulating viral structures in an authentic infection context remains unresolved. We show that incoming viral nucleocapsids containing a 5′ppp dsRNA “panhandle” structure trigger antiviral signaling that commences with RIG-I, is mediated through the adaptor protein MAVS, and terminates with transcription factor IRF-3. Independent of mammalian cofactors or viral polymerase activity, RIG-I bound to viral nucleocapsids, underwent a conformational switch, and homo-oligomerized. Enzymatic probing and super-resolution microscopy suggest that RIG-I interacts with the panhandle structure of the viral nucleocapsids. These results define cytoplasmic entry of nucleocapsids as the proximal RIG-I-sensitive step during infection, and establish viral nucleocapsids with a 5′ppp dsRNA panhandle as a RIG-I activator.

Immediately after viral infection, innate responses including expression of IFN-α/β and IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) are elicited ubiquitously by recruitment of specific pathogen recognition receptors. The velocity to induce IFN-α/β and ISGs in response to an infection is often decisive for virulence. Interestingly, in primary endothelial cells ISGs are induced later by hantaviruses pathogenic to humans than those considered to be nonpathogenic or of low virulence. Here we demonstrate that pathogenic Hantaan (HTNV) and putatively nonpathogenic Prospect Hill hantavirus (PHV) differentially activate innate responses in the established cell lines A549 and HuH7. STAT1α phosphorylation was detectable 3 h after PHV inoculation but not within the first 2 days after HTNV inoculation. The velocity to induce the ISGs MxA and ISG15 correlated inversely with amounts of virus produced. Moreover, expression of the inflammatory chemokine CCL5 was also induced differentially. Both hantaviruses induced innate responses via TRAF3 (TNF receptor-associated factor 3), and TLR3 was required for HTNV-induced expression of MxA, but not for the MxA induction triggered by PHV. Infection of RIG-I-deficient HuH7.5 cells revealed that RIG-I (retinoic acid receptor I) was not necessary for induction of innate responses by PHV. Taken together, these data suggest that HTNV and PHV elicit different signaling cascades that converge via TRAF3. Early induction of antiviral responses might contribute to efficient elimination of PHV. Subsequent to clearance of the infection, innate responses most likely cease; vice versa, retarded induction of antiviral responses could lead to increased HTNV replication and dissemination, which might cause a prolonged inflammatory response and might contribute to the in vivo virulence.

The La protein was recently identified as a host factor potentially involved in the cytokine-induced post-transcriptional down-regulation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) RNA. The La binding site was mapped to a predicted stem-loop structure within a region shared by all HBV RNAs, and it was concluded that the La protein might be an HBV RNA-stabilizing factor. To characterize the RNA binding mediated by the different RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) of the human La protein, several La deletion mutants were produced and analyzed for HBV RNA binding ability. The data demonstrate that the first RRM is not required for binding, whereas the RNP-1 and RNP-2 consensus sequences of the RRM-2 and RRM-3 are separately required for binding, indicating a cooperative function of these two RRMs. Furthermore, the results suggest that multimeric La disassembles into monomeric La upon binding of HBV RNA.B. By gel retardation assay the affinity of the wild type human La⅐HBV RNA.B interaction was determined in the nanomolar range, comparable to the affinity determined for the mouse La⅐HBV RNA.B interaction. This study identified small regions within the human La protein mediating the binding of HBV RNA. Hence, these binding sites might represent targets for novel antiviral strategies based on the disruption of the human La⅐HBV RNA interaction, thereby leading to HBV RNA degradation.The human La protein is a 47-kDa phosphoprotein predominantly localized in the nucleus. It was first discovered as an autoantigen recognized by antibodies present in sera of patients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren's syndrome (1, 2). The La protein is a member of a large group of RNA-binding proteins containing RNA recognition motifs (RRM) 1 (3-8) and is implicated in several steps of RNA metabolism. Among the different La proteins identified in a variety of organisms, the N-terminal part is highly conserved (9). La was shown to co-immunoprecipitate with a number of small RNA molecules (10). A role for La in the termination of RNA polymerase III transcription has been described. It was shown that La interacts with RNA polymerase III transcripts such as pre-tRNA by binding to a small stretch of uridines at the 3Ј-end common to these transcripts and might be necessary for proper processing of these precursors (11-17). In addition, La is known to interact with a variety of viral and other cellular . La is also suggested to be involved in the capindependent translation initiation of several viruses, including polio virus and hepatitis C virus (19,(27)(28)(29), and more recently evidence is growing that La stabilizes various RNAs, such as histone and hepatitis C and B virus RNA (22,23,25,30,31). At this time point it is not clear yet how La fulfills all of these different functions, however, assuming that this protein acts as a RNA chaperone, thereby stabilizing RNA structures, a function in these varied processes might be envisaged.The human La protein contains three RNA recognition motifs (RRM) involved in the binding of RNAs (9), although t...

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The La protein is a multifunctional RNA-binding protein and has also been suggested to be involved in the stabilization of hepatitis B virus (HBV) RNA. Here we demonstrate that antibodies against the human La protein specifically precipitate HBV RNA from HBV ribonucleoprotein-containing mammalian cell extracts, providing evidence for the association between human La and HBV RNA. Moreover, we report that the turnover of HBV RNA depends on structural features and less on the primary sequence of the La-binding site on the viral RNA. In addition we show that the interaction between human La and HBV RNA in vitro is modulated by accessory factor(s) in a phosphorylation-dependent manner. Taken together these data indicate that both structural features, the composition of La/HBV ribonucleoprotein particles as well as interacting cellular factors, are critical determinants in the regulation of the stability of the HBV RNA.RNA metabolism depends on the formation of ribonucleoprotein particles mediating diverse processes such as splicing, polyadenylation, nuclear export, and the regulation of mRNA stability (1, 2). The formation of RNPs 1 is a tightly controlled process, potentially regulated by several stimuli, including hormones and cytokines. Such stimuli can alter the RNA binding activity of proteins on the post-translational level by phosphorylation or dephosphorylation and thereby the processing and stability of RNAs (3-5). In addition, RNA processing depends on various cis-acting elements including splice sites, export elements, and endoribonucleolytic cleavage sites recognized by RNA-binding proteins. To understand fully the regulation of processing of a specific RNA, both trans-acting factors and cis-acting elements as well as their functions need to be known. The same applies for a detailed understanding of the metabolism of viral RNA. Such studies could lead to the identification of novel cellular targets valuable for the development of innovative antiviral strategies when focused on the post-transcriptional control of RNAs of viruses with global medical importance. This applies to hepatitis B virus (HBV) with more than 300 million chronically infected carriers worldwide who await more effective antiviral therapies.HBV is a noncytopathic, hepatotropic virus with a 3.2-kb circular DNA genome. After conversion into a covalently closed circular DNA, this genome serves in the nucleus as a template for transcription of all viral RNAs. Synthesis of these transcripts is driven by at least four promotors, leading to a large size heterogeneity with many different 5Ј-ends, whereas they all have very similar 3Ј-ends because of processing at the same polyadenylylation site (6). The so-called pregenomic RNA (slightly longer than genome length) is encapsidated into nucleocapsids where it is reverse-transcribed into viral DNA. This RNA serves also as messenger for synthesis of the viral P protein as well as for the core protein. The viral surface proteins as well as a regulatory protein with a role in hepatocarcinogenesis, des...

Duck hepatitis B viruses (DHBV), unlike mammalian hepadnaviruses, are thought to lack X genes, which encode transcription-regulatory proteins believed to contribute to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. A lack of association of chronic DHBV infection with hepatocellular carcinoma development supports this belief. Here, we demonstrate that DHBV genomes have a hidden open reading frame from which a transcription-regulatory protein, designated DHBx, is expressed both in vitro and in vivo. We show that DHBx enhances neither viral protein expression, intracellular DNA synthesis, nor virion production when assayed in the full-length genome context in LMH cells. However, similar to mammalian hepadnavirus X proteins, DHBx activates cellular and viral promoters via the Raf-mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway and localizes primarily in the cytoplasm. The functional similarities as well as the weak sequence homologies of DHBx and the X proteins of mammalian hepadnaviruses strongly suggest a common ancestry of ortho-and avihepadnavirus X genes. In addition, our data disclose similar intracellular localization and transcription regulatory functions of the corresponding proteins, raise new questions as to their presumed role in hepatocarcinogenesis, and imply unique opportunities for deciphering of their still-enigmatic in vivo functions.Since the identification of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in humans, several related viruses have been isolated from mammalian and avian species (9, 53, 68). These viruses, known as hepadnaviruses, display high liver tropism, have a narrow host range, and cause acute and chronic hepatitis. Chronic infection with mammalian hepadnaviruses (orthohepadnaviruses) is associated with the development of liver cancer.The hepadnaviruses are small enveloped DNA viruses with a unique virion ultrastructure. The viral genome is a partially duplexed, relaxed circular DNA molecule (rcDNA) with a size of about 3 kb which upon entry of the cell is converted into a covalently closed circular episome. This covalently closed circular DNA is then transcribed by the host RNA polymerase II, synthesizing subgenomic mRNAs and a greater-than-genomelength RNA known as pregenomic RNA or C-mRNA. Distinctive for all hepadnaviruses is the method of replication by reverse transcription of the pregenomic RNA into rcDNA. Transcripts encoding the envelope proteins, the nucleocapsid protein, the polymerase protein (P protein), and, as exclusively described so far in orthohepadnaviruses, the X protein have been identified. The organization of the viral genome is very compact, with overlapping reading frames and promoters and enhancer elements located within coding regions (20).The X proteins of orthohepadnaviruses affect signal transduction pathways, transcription, cell transformation, and proliferation (1,8,46,70). The HBV-specific X protein (HBx) is expressed in vivo, as shown by immunohistology and indirectly by identification of an HBx-specific immune response in infected individuals (64). In vivo expressio...

Tetracycline (tet)-responsive expression vectors allow controlled inducible expression of proteins in mammalian cells. This system is widely used for experimental research both in vivo and in vitro. In our attempts to use this system to study the antiviral effect of IFNalpha on hepatitis B virus, we discovered an unexpected feature of the tet-responsive promoter (tet promoter) of the currently available expression vectors. IFNalphawas found to stimulate tet promoter activity after transient transfection in a dose- and cell type-dependent manner. By sequence inspection, an IFNalpha-stimulated response element (ISRE)-like sequence was identified in the linker regions located between the heptameric tet operator sequences. Gel shift assays revealed binding of IFN-stimulated gene factors to these sequences, indicating that they mediate the IFNalpha-mediated promoter stimulation. These data demonstrate an unexpected feature of the tet-responsive expression system which needs to be taken into account when using this system for analysis of cytokine functions in vitro and in vivo. The data also imply that the tet promoter-based expression system can be rendered non-responsive to IFNalpha by mutagenesis of the ISREs and this may be essential when considering gene therapy in vivo.