The cell entry of SARS-CoV-2 has emerged as an attractive drug repurposing target for COVID-19. Here we combine genetics and chemical perturbation to demonstrate that ACE2-mediated entry of SARS-Cov and CoV-2 requires the cell surface heparan sulfate (HS) as an assisting cofactor: ablation of genes involved in HS biosynthesis or incubating cells with a HS mimetic both inhibit Spike-mediated viral entry. We show that heparin/HS binds to Spike directly, and facilitates the attachment of Spike-bearing viral particles to the cell surface to promote viral entry. We screened approved drugs and identified two classes of inhibitors that act via distinct mechanisms to target this entry pathway. Among the drugs characterized, Mitoxantrone is a potent HS inhibitor, while Sunitinib and BNTX disrupt the actin network to indirectly abrogate HS-assisted viral entry. We further show that drugs of the two classes can be combined to generate a synergized activity against SARS-CoV-2-induced cytopathic effect. Altogether, our study establishes HS as an attachment factor that assists SARS coronavirus cell entry and reveals drugs capable of targeting this important step in the viral life cycle.
Cell-to-cell transmission of misfolded proteins propagates proteotoxic stress in multicellular organisms when transmitted polypeptides serve as a seeding template to cause protein misfolding in recipient cells, but how misfolded proteins are released from cells to initiate this process is unclear. Misfolding-associated protein secretion (MAPS) is an unconventional protein-disposing mechanism that specifically exports misfolded cytosolic proteins including various neurodegenerative disease-causing proteins. Here we establish the HSC70 co-chaperone DNAJC5 as an essential mediator of MAPS. USP19, a previously uncovered MAPS regulator binds HSC70 and acts upstream of HSC70 and DNAJC5. We further show that as a membrane-associated protein localized preferentially to late endosomes and lysosomes, DNAJC5 can chaperone MAPS client proteins to the cell exterior. Intriguingly, upon secretion, misfolded proteins can be taken up through endocytosis and eventually degraded in the lysosome. Collectively, these findings suggest a transcellular protein quality control regulatory pathway in which a deubiquitinase-chaperone axis forms a “triaging hub”, transferring aberrant polypeptides from stressed cells to healthy ones for disposal.
Cell-to-cell transmission of misfolding-prone α-synuclein (α-Syn) has emerged as a key pathological event in Parkinson’s disease. This process is initiated when α-Syn–bearing fibrils enter cells via clathrin-mediated endocytosis, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Using a CRISPR-mediated knockout screen, we identify SLC35B2 and myosin-7B (MYO7B) as critical endocytosis regulators for α-Syn preformed fibrils (PFFs). We show that SLC35B2, as a key regulator of heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) biosynthesis, is essential for recruiting α-Syn PFFs to the cell surface because this process is mediated by interactions between negatively charged sugar moieties of HSPGs and clustered K-T-K motifs in α-Syn PFFs. By contrast, MYO7B regulates α-Syn PFF cell entry by maintaining a plasma membrane-associated actin network that controls membrane dynamics. Without MYO7B or actin filaments, many clathrin-coated pits fail to be severed from the membrane, causing accumulation of large clathrin-containing “scars” on the cell surface. Intriguingly, the requirement for MYO7B in endocytosis is restricted to α-Syn PFFs and other polycation-bearing cargos that enter cells via HSPGs. Thus, our study not only defines regulatory factors for α-Syn PFF endocytosis, but also reveals a previously unknown endocytosis mechanism for HSPG-binding cargos in general, which requires forces generated by MYO7B and actin filaments.
Mutations in DNAJC5/CSPα are associated with adult neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (ANCL), a dominant-inherited neurodegenerative disease featuring lysosome-derived autofluorescent s torage materials (AFSMs) termed lipofuscin. Functionally, DNAJC5 has been implicated in chaperoning synaptic proteins and in misfolding-associated protein secretion (MAPS), but how DNAJC5 dysfunction causes lipofuscinosis and neurodegeneration is unclear. Here we report two functionally distinct but coupled chaperoning activities of DNAJC5, which jointly regulate lysosomal homeostasis: While endolysosome-associated DNAJC5 promotes ESCRT-dependent microautophagy, a fraction of perinuclear and non-lysosomal DNAJC5 mediates MAPS. Functional proteomics identifies a previously unknown DNAJC5 interactor SLC3A2/CD98hc that is essential for the perinuclear DNAJC5 localization and MAPS but dispensable for microautophagy. Importantly, uncoupling these two processes, as seen in cells lacking SLC3A2 or expressing ANCL-associated DNAJC5 mutants, generates DNAJC5-containing AFSMs resembling NCL patient-derived lipofuscin and induces neurodegeneration in a Drosophila ANCL model. These findings suggest that MAPS safeguards microautophagy to avoid DNAJC5-associated lipofuscinosis and neurodegeneration. Abbreviations: 3-MA: 3-methyladenine; ACTB: actin beta; AFSM: autofluorescent storage materials; ANCL: adult neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis; Baf. A1: bafilomycin A 1 ; CLN: ceroid lipofuscinosis neuronal; CLU: clusterin; CS: cysteine string domain of DNAJC5/CSPα; CUPS: compartment for unconventional protein secretion; DN: dominant negative; DNAJC5/CSPα: DnaJ heat shock protein family (Hsp40) member C5; eMI: endosomal microautophagy; ESCRT: endosomal sorting complex required for transport; GFP: green fluorescent protein; HSPA8/HSC70: heat shock protein family A (Hsp70) member 8; INCL: infant neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis; JNCL: juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis; KO: knockout; LAMP1: lysosomal associated membrane protein 1; LAPTM4B: lysosomal protein transmembrane 4 beta; LN: linker domain of DNAJC5/CSPα; MAPS: misfolding-associated protein secretion; mCh/Ch: mCherry; mCi/Ci: mCitrine; MTOR: mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase; NCL: neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis; PPT1: palmitoyl-protein thioesterase 1; PQC: protein quality control; SBP: streptavidin binding protein; SGT: small glutamine-rich tetratricopeptide repeat; shRNA: short hairpin RNA; SLC3A2/CD98hc: solute carrier family 3 member 2; SNCA/α-synuclein: synuclein alpha; TMED10: transmembrane p24 trafficking protein 10; UV: ultraviolet; VPS4: vacuolar protein sorting 4 homolog; WT: wild type.
In eukaryotic cells, elimination of misfolded proteins is essential for maintaining protein homeostasis and cell viability. Misfolding-associated protein secretion (MAPS) is a protein quality-control mechanism that exports misfolded cytosolic proteins via a compartment characteristic of late endosomes, but how cytosolic proteins enter this compartment is unclear. Because chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) is a known mechanism that imports cytosolic proteins bearing a specific CMA motif to lysosomes for degradation and because late endosomes and lysosomes overlap significantly in mammalian cells, we determined here whether CMA is involved in targeting protein cargoes to the lumen of late endosomes in MAPS. Using HEK293T and COS-7 cells and immunoblotting and -staining and coimmunoprecipitation methods, we show that, unlike CMA, the secretion of misfolded proteins in MAPS does not require cargo unfolding, is inhibited by serum starvation, and is not dependent on the CMA motif in cargo. Intriguingly, knockdown of lysosome-associated membrane protein 2 (LAMP2), which consists of three isoforms, including a variant proposed to form a protein channel on lysosomes for CMA, attenuated MAPS. However, this could not be attributed to the proposed channel function of the LAMP2a isoform because overexpression of a cytosolic MAPS stimulator, DnaJ heat shock protein family (Hsp40) member C5 (DNAJC5), fully rescued the secretion defect associated with LAMP2 deficiency. We conclude that, in MAPS, cargoes use a CMA-independent mechanism to enter a nondegradative prelysosomal compartment.
Drugs capable of blocking the infectious cycle of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 are urgently needed to tackle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, the cell entry of SARS-CoV-2, initiated by the binding of the viral Spike (S) protein to human ACE2, has emerged as an attractive drug repurposing target. Here we use murine leukemia viruses pseudotyped with Spike from SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-2 to demonstrate that ACE2-mediated coronavirus entry can be mitigated by heparin, a heparan sulfate-related glycan, or by genetic ablation of biosynthetic enzymes for the cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs). A drug repurposing screen targeting HSPG-dependent endocytosis identifies pharmacologically active endocytosis inhibitors that also abrogate coronavirus cell entry. Among them, Mitoxantrone (EC50=~10 nM) targets HSPGs directly, whereas Sunitinib and BNTX disrupt the actin network to impair HSPG-assisted viral entry. Gene expression profiling suggests potential combination regimens that optimally target HSPG-dependent viral entry. Altogether, our study establishes HSPGs as an assisting factor for ACE2 in endocytosis mediated coronavirus entry and identifies drugs that can be repurposed to target this important stage in the viral life cycle.
Spike-mediated entry of SARS-CoV-2 into human airway epithelial cells is an attractive therapeutic target for COVID-19. In addition to protein receptors, the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein also interacts with heparan sulfate, a negatively charged glycosaminoglycan (GAG) attached to certain membrane proteins on the cell surface. This interaction facilitates the engagement of spike with a downstream receptor to promote viral entry. Here, we show that Mitoxantrone, an FDA-approved topoisomerase inhibitor, targets a heparan sulfate-spike complex to compromise the fusogenic function of spike in viral entry. As a single agent, Mitoxantrone inhibits the infection of an authentic SARS-CoV-2 strain in a cell-based model and in human lung EpiAirway 3D tissues. Gene expression profiling supports the plasma membrane as a major target of Mitoxantrone but also underscores an undesired activity targeting nucleosome dynamics. We propose that Mitoxantrone analogs bearing similar heparan sulfate-binding activities but with reduced affinity for DNA topoisomerases may offer an alternative therapy to overcome breakthrough infections in the post-vaccine era.
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