Journal Article

Sustained Autophagy Contributes to Measles Virus Infectivity

Tangy, Frédéric, Azocar, Olga, Flacher, Monique, Verlhac, Pauline, Richetta, Clémence, Baguet, Joël, Rabourdin-Combe, Chantal, Faure, Mathias, Grégoire, Isabel P.

2013

Overview

The interplay between autophagy and intracellular pathogens is intricate as autophagy is an essential cellular response to fight against infections, whereas numerous microbes have developed strategies to escape this process or even exploit it to their own benefit. The fine tuned timing and/or selective molecular pathways involved in the induction of autophagy upon infections could be the cornerstone allowing cells to either control intracellular pathogens, or be invaded by them. We report here that measles virus infection induces successive autophagy signallings in permissive cells, via distinct and uncoupled molecular pathways. Immediately upon infection, attenuated measles virus induces a first transient wave of autophagy, via a pathway involving its cellular receptor CD46 and the scaffold protein GOPC. Soon after infection, a new autophagy signalling is initiated which requires viral replication and the expression of the non-structural measles virus protein C. Strikingly, this second autophagy signalling can be sustained overtime within infected cells, independently of the expression of C, but via a third autophagy input resulting from cell-cell fusion and the formation of syncytia. Whereas this sustained autophagy signalling leads to the autophagy degradation of cellular contents, viral proteins escape from degradation. Furthermore, this autophagy flux is ultimately exploited by measles virus to limit the death of infected cells and to improve viral particle formation. Whereas CD150 dependent virulent strains of measles virus are unable to induce the early CD46/GOPC dependent autophagy wave, they induce and exploit the late and sustained autophagy. Overall, our work describes distinct molecular pathways for an induction of self-beneficial sustained autophagy by measles virus.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Antigens, CD - genetics / Antigens, CD - metabolism / Autophagy / Autophagy (Cytology) / Carrier Proteins - genetics / Carrier Proteins - metabolism / Experiments / Giant Cells - metabolism / Giant Cells - pathology / Giant Cells - virology / Health aspects / HeLa Cells / Host-parasite relationships / Humans / Life Sciences / Measles / Measles - genetics / Measles - metabolism / Measles - pathology / Measles virus / Measles virus - genetics / Measles virus - metabolism / Measles virus - pathogenicity / Membrane Cofactor Protein - genetics / Membrane Cofactor Protein - metabolism / Membrane Proteins - genetics / Membrane Proteins - metabolism / Microbiology / Physiological aspects / Proteins / Receptors, Cell Surface - genetics / Receptors, Cell Surface - metabolism / RNA polymerase / Signal Transduction / Signaling Lymphocytic Activation Molecule Family Member 1 / Vaccines