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Mapping of the Lassa virus LAMP1 binding site reveals unique determinants not shared by other old world arenaviruses.

ABSTRACT: Cell entry of many enveloped viruses occurs by engagement with cellular receptors, followed by internalization into endocytic compartments and pH-induced membrane fusion. A previously unnoticed step of receptor switching was found to be critical during cell entry of two devastating human pathogens: Ebola and Lassa viruses. Our recent studies revealed the functional role of receptor switching to LAMP1 for triggering membrane fusion by Lassa virus and showed the involvement of conserved histidines in this switching, suggesting that other viruses from this family may also switch to LAMP1. However, when we investigated viruses that are genetically close to Lassa virus, we discovered that they cannot bind LAMP1. A crystal structure of the receptor-binding module from Morogoro virus revealed structural differences that allowed mapping of the LAMP1 binding site to a unique set of Lassa residues not shared by other viruses in its family, illustrating a key difference in the cell-entry mechanism of Lassa virus that may contribute to its pathogenicity.

SUBMITTER: Israeli H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5423696 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mapping of the Lassa virus LAMP1 binding site reveals unique determinants not shared by other old world arenaviruses.

Israeli Hadar H Cohen-Dvashi Hadas H Shulman Anastasiya A Shimon Amir A Diskin Ron R

PLoS pathogens 20170427 4

Cell entry of many enveloped viruses occurs by engagement with cellular receptors, followed by internalization into endocytic compartments and pH-induced membrane fusion. A previously unnoticed step of receptor switching was found to be critical during cell entry of two devastating human pathogens: Ebola and Lassa viruses. Our recent studies revealed the functional role of receptor switching to LAMP1 for triggering membrane fusion by Lassa virus and showed the involvement of conserved histidines ...[more]

PMID: 28448640

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Project description:UnlabelledLassa virus is a notorious human pathogen that infects many thousands of people each year in West Africa, causing severe viral hemorrhagic fevers and significant mortality. The surface glycoprotein of Lassa virus mediates receptor recognition through its GP1 subunit. Here we report the crystal structure of GP1 from Lassa virus, which is the first representative GP1 structure for Old World arenaviruses. We identify a unique triad of histidines that forms a binding site for LAMP1, a known lysosomal protein recently discovered to be a critical receptor for internalized Lassa virus at acidic pH. We demonstrate that mutation of this histidine triad, which is highly conserved among Old World arenaviruses, impairs LAMP1 recognition. Our biochemical and structural data further suggest that GP1 from Lassa virus may undergo irreversible conformational changes that could serve as an immunological decoy mechanism. Together with a variable region that we identify on the surface of GP1, those could be two distinct mechanisms that Lassa virus utilizes to avoid antibody-based immune response.ImportanceStructural data at atomic resolution for viral proteins is key for understanding their function at the molecular level and can facilitate novel avenues for combating viral infections. Here we used X-ray protein crystallography to decipher the crystal structure of the receptor-binding domain (GP1) from Lassa virus. This is a pathogenic virus that causes significant illness and mortality in West Africa. This structure reveals the overall architecture of GP1 domains from the group of viruses known as the Old World arenaviruses. Using this structural information, we elucidated the mechanisms for pH switch and binding of Lassa virus to LAMP1, a recently identified host receptor that is critical for successful infection. Lastly, our structural analysis suggests two novel immune evasion mechanisms that Lassa virus may utilize to escape antibody-based immune response.

Project description:Arenaviruses pose a major public health threat and cause numerous infections in humans each year. Although most viruses belonging to this family do not cause disease in humans, some arenaviruses, such as Lassa virus and Machupo virus, are the etiological agents of lethal hemorrhagic fevers. The absence of a currently licensed vaccine and the highly pathogenic nature of these viruses both make the necessity of developing viable vaccines and therapeutics all the more urgent. Arenaviruses have a single glycoprotein on the surface of virions, the glycoprotein complex (GPC), and this protein can be used as a target for vaccine development. Here, we describe immunization strategies to generate monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) that cross-react between the glycoprotein complexes of both Old World and New World arenaviruses. Several monoclonal antibodies isolated from immunized mice were highly cross-reactive, binding a range of Old World arenavirus glycoproteins, including that of Lassa virus. One such monoclonal antibody, KL-AV-2A1, bound to GPCs of both New World and Old World viruses, including Lassa and Machupo viruses. These cross-reactive antibodies bound to epitopes present on the glycoprotein 2 subunit of the glycoprotein complex, which is relatively conserved among arenaviruses. Monoclonal antibodies binding to these epitopes, however, did not inhibit viral entry as they failed to neutralize a replication-competent vesicular stomatitis virus pseudotyped with the Lassa virus glycoprotein complex in vitro In addition, no protection from virus challenge was observed in in vivo mouse models. Even so, these monoclonal antibodies might still prove to be useful in the development of clinical and diagnostic assays.IMPORTANCE Several viruses in the Arenaviridae family infect humans and cause severe hemorrhagic fevers which lead to high case fatality rates. Due to their pathogenicity and geographic tropisms, these viruses remain very understudied. As a result, an effective vaccine or therapy is urgently needed. Here, we describe efforts to produce cross-reactive monoclonal antibodies that bind to both New and Old World arenaviruses. All of our MAbs seem to be nonneutralizing and nonprotective and target subunit 2 of the glycoprotein. Due to the lack of reagents such as recombinant glycoproteins and antibodies for rapid detection assays, our MAbs could be beneficial as analytic and diagnostic tools.

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Mapping of the Lassa virus LAMP1 binding site reveals unique determinants not shared by other old world arenaviruses.

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Mapping of the Lassa virus LAMP1 binding site reveals unique determinants not shared by other old world arenaviruses.

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