Explore the vast range of titles available.

The human polyomavirus, JCPyV, is the causative agent of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in immunosuppressed and immunomodulated patients. Initial infection with JCPyV is common and the virus establishes a long-term persistent infection in the urogenital system of 50-70% of the human population worldwide. A major gap in the field is that we do not know how the virus traffics from the periphery to the brain to cause disease. Our recent discovery that human choroid plexus epithelial cells are fully susceptible to virus infection together with reports of JCPyV infection of choroid plexus in vivo has led us to hypothesize that the choroid plexus plays a fundamental role in this process. The choroid plexus is known to relay information between the blood and the brain by the release of extracellular vesicles. This is particularly important because human macroglia (oligodendrocytes and astrocytes), the major targets of virus infection in the central nervous system (CNS), do not express the known attachment receptors for the virus and do not bind virus in human tissue sections. In this report we show that JCPyV infected choroid plexus epithelial cells produce extracellular vesicles that contain JCPyV and readily transmit the infection to human glial cells. Transmission of the virus by extracellular vesicles is independent of the known virus attachment receptors and is not neutralized by antisera directed at the virus. We also show that extracellular vesicles containing virus are taken into target glial cells by both clathrin dependent endocytosis and macropinocytosis. Our data support the hypothesis that the choroid plexus plays a fundamental role in the dissemination of virus to brain parenchyma.

JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) is a ubiquitous human pathogen that causes progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a severe and often fatal neurodegenerative disease in immunocompromised or immunomodulated patients. The mechanisms responsible for initiating infection in susceptible cells are not completely known. The major attachment receptor for the virus, lactoseries tetrasaccharide c (LSTc), is paradoxically not expressed on oligodendrocytes or astrocytes in human brain, and virus does not bind to these cells. Because these are the major cell types targeted by the virus in the brain, we hypothesized that alternative mechanisms of infection must be responsible. Here we provide evidence that JCPyV is packaged in extracellular vesicles from infected cells. Infection of target cells by vesicle-associated virus is not dependent on LSTc and is not neutralized by antisera directed against the virus. This is the first demonstration of a polyomavirus using extracellular vesicles as a means of transmission. The endemic human JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) causes progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in immune-suppressed patients. The mechanisms of virus infection in vivo are not understood because the major target cells for virus in the brain do not express virus receptors and do not bind virus. We found that JCPyV associates with extracellular vesicles (EVs) and can infect target cells independently of virus receptors. Virus particles were found packaged inside extracellular vesicles and attached to the outer side of vesicles. Anti-JCPyV antisera reduced infection by purified virus but had no effect on infection by EV-associated virus. Treatment of cells with the receptor-destroying enzyme neuraminidase inhibited infection with purified virus but did not inhibit infection by EV-associated virus. Mutant pseudoviruses defective in sialic acid receptor binding could not transduce cells as purified pseudovirions but could do so when associated with EVs. This alternative mechanism of infection likely plays a critical role in the dissemination and spread of JCPyV both to and within the central nervous system. IMPORTANCE JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) is a ubiquitous human pathogen that causes progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a severe and often fatal neurodegenerative disease in immunocompromised or immunomodulated patients. The mechanisms responsible for initiating infection in susceptible cells are not completely known. The major attachment receptor for the virus, lactoseries tetrasaccharide c (LSTc), is paradoxically not expressed on oligodendrocytes or astrocytes in human brain, and virus does not bind to these cells. Because these are the major cell types targeted by the virus in the brain, we hypothesized that alternative mechanisms of infection must be responsible. Here we provide evidence that JCPyV is packaged in extracellular vesicles from infected cells. Infection of target cells by vesicle-associated virus is not dependent on LSTc and is not neutralized by antisera directed against the virus. This is the first demonstration of a polyomavirus using extracellular vesicles as a means of transmission.

The human polyomavirus, JCV, causes the fatal demyelinating disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in immunocompromised patients. We found that the serotonergic receptor$5HT_{2A}R$could act as the cellular receptor for JCV on human glial cells. The 5HT2Areceptor antagonists inhibited JCV infection, and monoclonal antibodies directed at 5HT2Areceptors blocked infection of glial cells by JCV, but not by SV40. Transfection of 5HT2Areceptor-negative HeLa cells with a 5HT2Areceptor rescued virus infection, and this infection was blocked by antibody to the 5HT2Areceptor. A tagged 5HT2Areceptor colocalized with labeled JCV in an endosomal compartment following internalization. Serotonin receptor antagonists may thus be useful in the treatment of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.

Several classes of immunomodulators are used for treating relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Most of these disease-modifying therapies, except teriflunomide, carry the risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a severely debilitating, often fatal virus-induced demyelinating disease. Because teriflunomide has been shown to have antiviral activity against DNA viruses, we investigated whether treatment of cells with teriflunomide inhibits infection and spread of JC polyomavirus (JCPyV), the causative agent of PML. Treatment of choroid plexus epithelial cells and astrocytes with teriflunomide reduced JCPyV infection and spread. We also used droplet digital PCR to quantify JCPyV DNA associated with extracellular vesicles isolated from RRMS patients. We detected JCPyV DNA in all patients with confirmed PML diagnosis (n = 2), and in six natalizumab-treated (n = 12), two teriflunomide-treated (n = 7), and two nonimmunomodulated (n = 2) patients. Of the 21 patients, 12 (57%) had detectable JCPyV in either plasma or serum. CSF was uniformly negative for JCPyV. Isolation of extracellular vesicles did not increase the level of detection of JCPyV DNA versus bulk unprocessed biofluid. Overall, our study demonstrated an effect of teriflunomide inhibiting JCPyV infection and spread in glial and choroid plexus epithelial cells. Larger studies using patient samples are needed to correlate these in vitro findings with patient data.

Polyomaviruses are small, non-enveloped DNA tumor viruses that cause serious disease in immunosuppressed people, including progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in patients infected with JC polyomavirus, but the molecular events mediating polyomavirus entry are poorly understood. Through genetic knockdown approaches, we identified phosphoinositide 3′-kinase γ (PI3Kγ) and its regulatory subunit PIK3R5 as cellular proteins that facilitate infection of human SVG-A glial cells by JCPyV. PI3Kα appears less important for polyomavirus infection than PI3Kγ. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of PIK3R5 or PI3Kγ inhibited infection by authentic JCPyV and by JC pseudovirus. PI3Kγ knockout also inhibited infection by BK and Merkel Cell pseudoviruses, other pathogenic human polyomaviruses, and SV40, an important model polyomavirus. Reintroduction of the wild-type PI3Kγ gene into the PI3Kγ knock-out SVG-A cells rescued the JCPyV infection defect. Disruption of the PI3Kγ pathway did not block binding of JCPyV to cells or virus internalization, implying that PI3Kγ facilitates some intracellular step(s) of infection. These results imply that agents that inhibit PI3Kγ signaling may have a role in managing polyomavirus infections.

Trichodysplasia spinulosa-associated Polyomavirus (TSPyV) was isolated from a patient suffering from trichodysplasia spinulosa, a skin disease that can appear in severely immunocompromised patients. While TSPyV is one of the five members of the polyomavirus family that are directly linked to a human disease, details about molecular recognition events, the viral entry pathway, and intracellular trafficking events during TSPyV infection remain unknown. Here we have used a structure-function approach to shed light on the first steps of TSPyV infection. We established by cell binding and pseudovirus infection studies that TSPyV interacts with sialic acids during attachment and/or entry. Subsequently, we solved high-resolution X-ray structures of the major capsid protein VP1 of TSPyV in complex with three different glycans, the branched GM1 glycan, and the linear trisaccharides α2,3- and α2,6-sialyllactose. The terminal sialic acid of all three glycans is engaged in a unique binding site on TSPyV VP1, which is positioned about 18 Å from established sialic acid binding sites of other polyomaviruses. Structure-based mutagenesis of sialic acid-binding residues leads to reduction in cell attachment and pseudovirus infection, demonstrating the physiological relevance of the TSPyV VP1-glycan interaction. Furthermore, treatments of cells with inhibitors of N-, O-linked glycosylation, and glycosphingolipid synthesis suggest that glycolipids play an important role during TSPyV infection. Our findings elucidate the first molecular recognition events of cellular infection with TSPyV and demonstrate that receptor recognition by polyomaviruses is highly variable not only in interactions with sialic acid itself, but also in the location of the binding site.

Polyomaviruses are ubiquitous pathogens that cause severe disease in immunocompromised individuals. JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) is the causative agent of the fatal demyelinating disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), whereas BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) causes polyomavirus-induced nephropathy and hemorrhagic cystitis. Vaccines or antiviral therapies targeting these viruses do not exist, and treatments focus on reducing the underlying causes of immunosuppression. We demonstrate that retro-2 cycl , an inhibitor of ricin and Shiga-like toxins (SLTs), inhibits infection by JCPyV, BKPyV, and simian virus 40. Retro-2 cycl inhibits retrograde transport of polyomaviruses to the endoplasmic reticulum, a step necessary for productive infection. Retro-2 cycl likely inhibits polyomaviruses in a way similar to its ricin and SLT inhibition, suggesting an overlap in the cellular host factors used by bacterial toxins and polyomaviruses. This work establishes retro-2 cycl as a potential antiviral therapy that broadly inhibits polyomaviruses and possibly other pathogens that use retrograde trafficking. IMPORTANCE The human polyomaviruses JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) and BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) cause rare but severe diseases in individuals with reduced immune function. During immunosuppression, JCPyV disseminates from the kidney to the central nervous system and destroys oligodendrocytes, resulting in the fatal disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Kidney transplant recipients are at increased risk of BKPyV-induced nephropathy, which results in kidney necrosis and loss of the transplanted organ. There are currently no effective therapies for JCPyV and BKPyV. We show that a small molecule named retro-2 cycl protects cells from infection with JCPyV and BKPyV by inhibiting intracellular viral transport. Retro-2 cycl treatment reduces viral spreading in already established infections and may therefore be able to control infection in affected patients. Further optimization of retro-2 cycl may result in the development of an effective antiviral therapy directed toward pathogens that use retrograde trafficking to infect their hosts. The human polyomaviruses JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) and BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) cause rare but severe diseases in individuals with reduced immune function. During immunosuppression, JCPyV disseminates from the kidney to the central nervous system and destroys oligodendrocytes, resulting in the fatal disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Kidney transplant recipients are at increased risk of BKPyV-induced nephropathy, which results in kidney necrosis and loss of the transplanted organ. There are currently no effective therapies for JCPyV and BKPyV. We show that a small molecule named retro-2 cycl protects cells from infection with JCPyV and BKPyV by inhibiting intracellular viral transport. Retro-2 cycl treatment reduces viral spreading in already established infections and may therefore be able to control infection in affected patients. Further optimization of retro-2 cycl may result in the development of an effective antiviral therapy directed toward pathogens that use retrograde trafficking to infect their hosts.

Simian virus 40 (SV40), a polyomavirus that has served as an important model to understand many aspects of biology, induces dramatic cytoplasmic vacuolization late during productive infection of monkey host cells. Although this activity led to the discovery of the virus in 1960, the mechanism of vacuolization is still not known. Pentamers of the major SV40 capsid protein VP1 bind to the ganglioside GM1, which serves as the cellular receptor for the virus. In this report, we show that binding of VP1 to cell surface GM1 plays a key role in SV40 infection-induced vacuolization. We previously showed that SV40 VP1 mutants defective for GM1 binding fail to induce vacuolization, even though they replicate efficiently. Here, we show that interfering with GM1-VP1 binding by knockdown of GM1 after infection is established abrogates vacuolization by wild-type SV40. Vacuole formation during permissive infection requires efficient virus release, and conditioned medium harvested late during SV40 infection rapidly induces vacuoles in a VP1- and GM1-dependent fashion. Furthermore, vacuolization can also be induced by a nonreplicating SV40 pseudovirus in a GM1-dependent manner, and a mutation in BK pseudovirus VP1 that generates GM1 binding confers vacuole-inducing activity. Vacuolization can also be triggered by purified pentamers of wild-type SV40 VP1, but not by GM1 binding-defective pentamers or by intracellular expression of VP1. These results demonstrate that SV40 infection-induced vacuolization is caused by the binding of released progeny viruses to GM1, thereby identifying the molecular trigger for the activity that led to the discovery of SV40. IMPORTANCE The DNA tumor virus SV40 was discovered more than a half century ago as a contaminant of poliovirus vaccine stocks, because it caused dramatic cytoplasmic vacuolization of permissive host cells. Although SV40 played a historically important role in the development of molecular and cellular biology, restriction mapping, molecular cloning, and whole-genome sequencing, the basis of this vacuolization phenotype was unknown. Here, we show that SV40-induced vacuolization is triggered by the binding of the major viral capsid protein, VP1, to a cell surface ganglioside receptor, GM1. No other viral proteins or virus replication is required for vacuole formation. Other polyomaviruses utilize different ganglioside receptors, but they do not induce vacuolization. This work identifies the molecular trigger for the phenotype that led to the discovery of this important virus and provides the first molecular insight into an unusual and enigmatic cytopathic effect due to virus infection. The DNA tumor virus SV40 was discovered more than a half century ago as a contaminant of poliovirus vaccine stocks, because it caused dramatic cytoplasmic vacuolization of permissive host cells. Although SV40 played a historically important role in the development of molecular and cellular biology, restriction mapping, molecular cloning, and whole-genome sequencing, the basis of this vacuolization phenotype was unknown. Here, we show that SV40-induced vacuolization is triggered by the binding of the major viral capsid protein, VP1, to a cell surface ganglioside receptor, GM1. No other viral proteins or virus replication is required for vacuole formation. Other polyomaviruses utilize different ganglioside receptors, but they do not induce vacuolization. This work identifies the molecular trigger for the phenotype that led to the discovery of this important virus and provides the first molecular insight into an unusual and enigmatic cytopathic effect due to virus infection.

JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) is a small, non‐enveloped virus that persists in the kidney in about half the adult population. In severely immune‐compromised individuals JCPyV causes the neurodegenerative disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in the brain. JCPyV has been shown to infect cells by both direct and indirect mechanisms, the latter involving extracellular vesicle (EV) mediated infection. While direct mechanisms of infection are well studied indirect EV mediated mechanisms are poorly understood. Using a combination of chemical and genetic approaches we show that several overlapping intracellular pathways are responsible for the biogenesis of virus containing EV. Here we show that targeting neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (nSMase2) with the drug cambinol decreased the spread of JCPyV over several viral life cycles. Genetic depletion of nSMase2 by either shRNA or CRISPR/Cas9 reduced EV‐mediated infection. Individual knockdown of seven ESCRT‐related proteins including HGS, ALIX, TSG101, VPS25, VPS20, CHMP4A, and VPS4A did not significantly reduce JCPyV associated EV (JCPyV(+) EV) infectivity, whereas knockdown of the tetraspanins CD9 and CD81 or trafficking and/or secretory autophagy‐related proteins RAB8A, RAB27A, and GRASP65 all significantly reduced the spread of JCPyV and decreased EV‐mediated infection. These findings point to a role for exosomes and secretory autophagosomes in the biogenesis of JCPyV associated EVs with specific roles for nSMase2, CD9, CD81, RAB8A, RAB27A, and GRASP65 proteins.

The human JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) is the causative agent of the fatal, demyelinating disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The Mad-1 prototype strain of JCPyV uses the glycan lactoseries tetrasaccharide c (LSTc) and serotonin receptor 5-HT 2A to attach to and enter into host cells, respectively. Specific residues in the viral capsid protein VP1 are responsible for direct interactions with the α2,6-linked sialic acid of LSTc. Viral isolates from individuals with PML often contain mutations in the sialic acid-binding pocket of VP1 that are hypothesized to arise from positive selection. We reconstituted these mutations in the Mad-1 strain of JCPyV and found that they were not capable of growth. The mutations were then introduced into recombinant VP1 and reconstituted as pentamers in order to conduct binding studies and structural analyses. VP1 pentamers carrying PML-associated mutations were not capable of binding to permissive cells. High-resolution structure determination revealed that these pentamers are well folded but no longer bind to LSTc due to steric clashes in the sialic acid-binding site. Reconstitution of the mutations into JCPyV pseudoviruses allowed us to directly quantify the infectivity of the mutants in several cell lines. The JCPyV pseudoviruses with PML-associated mutations were not infectious, nor were they able to engage sialic acid as measured by hemagglutination of human red blood cells. These results demonstrate that viruses from PML patients with single point mutations in VP1 disrupt binding to sialic acid motifs and render these viruses noninfectious. IMPORTANCE Infection with human JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) is common and asymptomatic in healthy individuals, but during immunosuppression, JCPyV can spread from the kidney to the central nervous system (CNS) and cause a fatal, demyelinating disease, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Individuals infected with HIV, those who have AIDS, or those receiving immunomodulatory therapies for autoimmune diseases are at serious risk for PML. Recent reports have demonstrated that viral isolates from PML patients often have distinct changes within the major capsid protein. Our structural-functional approach highlights that these mutations result in abolished engagement of the carbohydrate receptor motif LSTc that is necessary for infection. Viruses with PML-associated mutations are not infectious in glial cells, suggesting that they may play an alternative role in PML pathogenesis. Infection with human JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) is common and asymptomatic in healthy individuals, but during immunosuppression, JCPyV can spread from the kidney to the central nervous system (CNS) and cause a fatal, demyelinating disease, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Individuals infected with HIV, those who have AIDS, or those receiving immunomodulatory therapies for autoimmune diseases are at serious risk for PML. Recent reports have demonstrated that viral isolates from PML patients often have distinct changes within the major capsid protein. Our structural-functional approach highlights that these mutations result in abolished engagement of the carbohydrate receptor motif LSTc that is necessary for infection. Viruses with PML-associated mutations are not infectious in glial cells, suggesting that they may play an alternative role in PML pathogenesis.