eLife (Jun 2021)

Role of the transcriptional regulator SP140 in resistance to bacterial infections via repression of type I interferons

  • Daisy X Ji,
  • Kristen C Witt,
  • Dmitri I Kotov,
  • Shally R Margolis,
  • Alexander Louie,
  • Victoria Chevée,
  • Katherine J Chen,
  • Moritz M Gaidt,
  • Harmandeep S Dhaliwal,
  • Angus Y Lee,
  • Stephen L Nishimura,
  • Dario S Zamboni,
  • Igor Kramnik,
  • Daniel A Portnoy,
  • K Heran Darwin,
  • Russell E Vance

DOI
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.67290
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

Read online

Type I interferons (IFNs) are essential for anti-viral immunity, but often impair protective immune responses during bacterial infections. An important question is how type I IFNs are strongly induced during viral infections, and yet are appropriately restrained during bacterial infections. The Super susceptibility to tuberculosis 1 (Sst1) locus in mice confers resistance to diverse bacterial infections. Here we provide evidence that Sp140 is a gene encoded within the Sst1 locus that represses type I IFN transcription during bacterial infections. We generated Sp140–/– mice and found that they are susceptible to infection by Legionella pneumophila and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Susceptibility of Sp140–/– mice to bacterial infection was rescued by crosses to mice lacking the type I IFN receptor (Ifnar–/–). Our results implicate Sp140 as an important negative regulator of type I IFNs that is essential for resistance to bacterial infections.

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