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A temporal proteogenomic atlas of HCV-host interactions unravels cell circuits driving viral and metabolic liver disease.

ABSTRACT: Background and aims: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of liver disease including steatosis, fibrosis and liver cancer. Viral cure cannot fully eliminate the risk of disease progression and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in advanced liver disease. The mechanisms for establishment of infection, liver disease progression and hepatocarcinogenesis are only partially understood. To address these questions, we probed the functional proteogenomic architecture of HCV infection within a hepatocyte-model. Methods: Time-resolved HCV infection of hepatocyte-like cells was analyzed by RNA sequencing, proteomics, metabolomics, and leveraged by integrative genomic analyses. Using differential expression, gene set enrichment analyses, and protein-protein interaction mapping we identified pathways relevant for liver disease pathogenesis that we validated in livers of 216 cirrhotic patients with HCV. Results: We uncovered marked changes in the protein expression of gene sets involved in innate immunity, metabolism and hepatocarcinogenesis. In infected cells, HCV enhances glucose metabolism and creates a Warburg-like shift of the lactate flux. HCV infection impaired the formation of peroxisomes -organelles required for long-chain fatty acid oxidation- causing intracellular fatty acid accumulation, which is a hallmark of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Ex vivo studies confirmed perturbed peroxisomes and revealed an association of hepatic catalase expression with clinical outcomes and phenotypes in HCV-associated cirrhosis, NAFLD and HCC cohorts. Conclusion: Our integrative analyses uncover how HCV perturbs the hepatocyte cell circuits to drive chronic liver disease and hepatocarcinogenesis. This proteogenomic atlas of HCV infection provides a model for the discovery of novel drivers for viral- and non-viral induced liver disease.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE126831 | GEO | 2019/04/17

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced chronic liver disease is one of the leading causes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying HCC development following chronic HCV infection remain poorly understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in cellular homeostasis within the liver and deregulation of the miRNome has been associated with liver disease including HCC. While host miRNAs are essential for HCV replication, viral infection in turn appears to induce alterations of intrahepatic miRNA networks. Although the cross-talk between HCV and liver cell miRNAs most likely contributes to liver disease pathogenesis, the functional involvement of miRNAs in HCV-driven hepatocyte injury and HCC remains elusive. Here, we combined a hepatocyte-like based model system, high-throughput small RNA-sequencing, computational analysis and functional studies to investigate HCV-miRNA interactions that may contribute to liver disease and HCC. Profiling analyses indicated that HCV infection differentially regulated the expression of 72 miRNAs by at least two-fold including miRNAs that were previously described to target genes associated with inflammation, fibrosis and cancer development. Further investigation demonstrated that miR-146a-5p was consistently increased in HCV-infected hepatocyte-like cells and primary human hepatocytes as well as in liver tissues from HCV-infected patients. Genome-wide microarray and computational analyses indicated that miR-146a-5p over-expression is related to liver disease and HCC development. Furthermore, we showed that miR-146a-5p positively impacts on late steps of the viral replication cycle thereby increasing HCV infection. Collectively, our data indicate that the HCV-induced increase in miR-146a-5p expression both promotes viral infection and is relevant for pathogenesis of liver disease. To explore the functional relevance of miR-146a-5p up-regulation, we performed a genome-wide transcriptomic analysis of hepatocyte-like cells upon ectopic miR-146a-5p expression.

Project description:Background & aims: Chronic hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection is a leading etiologic driver of cirrhosis and ultimately hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Of the approximately ~71 million individuals chronically infected with HCV, 10-20% are expected to develop severe liver complications in their lifetime. Epigenetic mechanisms including DNA methylation and histone modifications become profoundly disrupted in disease processes including liver disease. Methods: To understand how HCV infection influences the epigenome and whether these events remain as ‘scars’ following cure of chronic HCV infection, we mapped genome-wide DNA methylation, four key regulatory histone modifications (H3K4me3, H3K4me1, H3K27ac, and H3K27me3) and open chromatin by ATAC-seq in parental and HCV-infected immortalized hepatocytes and the Huh7.5 HCC cell line, along with DNA methylation and gene expression analyses following elimination of HCV in these models through treatment with interferon-α or a direct-acting antiviral (DAA). Results: Our data demonstrate that HCV infection profoundly impacts the epigenome (particularly enhancers), HCV shares epigenetic targets with interferon-α targets, an overwhelming majority of epigenetic changes induced by HCV remain as ‘scars’ on the epigenome following cured infection, and similar findings are observed in primary human patient samples cured of chronic HCV infection. Supplementation of interferon-α/DAA antiviral regimens with DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-aza-2’deoxycytidine synergizes in reverting aberrant DNA methylation changes induced by HCV. Finally, both HCV-infected and cured cells displayed a blunted immune response, demonstrating a functional effect of epigenetic scarring. Conclusions: Integration of epigenetic and transcriptional data elucidates key gene deregulation events driven by HCV infection and how this may underpin the long-term elevated risk for HCC in patients cured of HCV due to epigenome scarring. Lay summary: Despite cure of hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection, patients remain at increased long-term risk for liver cancer. This study aimed to discover whether this effect was mediated through the epigenome. Using a novel cell culture system, we find that normal epigenetic marks and gene expression are disrupted by chronic HCV infection, and that these disrupted patterns are not restored following HCV cure. Moreover, the epigenetic disruptions caused by HCV are very similar to the natural interferon response that is typically key to clearing viral infections. Epigenetically disrupted pathways therefore contribute to suppression of innate immunity and increased risk for liver cancer in patients cured of HCV, but also reveal potential vulnerabilities that could be targeted pharmacologically.

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A temporal proteogenomic atlas of HCV-host interactions unravels cell circuits driving viral and metabolic liver disease.

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