BACKGROUND & IMPORTANCE:
Arenaviruses represent a fast-growing group of hemorrhagic fever viruses that include lethal human pathogens such as Lassa virus, Machupo virus, Junin virus, Guanarito virus, Sabia virus and Lujo virus. Lassa virus is endemic in West Africa causing ~500.000 cases on a yearly basis. The other viruses can cause South American hemorrhagic fever, with cases occurring annually in a constantly expanding endemic region. Lujo virus has been associated with an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in South Africa. The mortality rate ranges from 15-30%. With the exception of Junin virus, no FDA-approved vaccines are available and with limited alternative therapeutic options, identification of new drug targets for the development of effective antivirals is urgently needed. Infectious diseases continue to be one of the largest contributors to morbidity and mortality in the world today. This is again demonstrated by the 2014 outbreak of Ebola virus in Western Africa, which up until now has caused ~2,000 deaths with many more people being infected. Without effective vaccines and antivirals available, these epidemics will continue to be a significant health problem plus the economic costs of such outbreaks are often out of proportion to their death toll. In addition, the continuing growth of global travel favours the spread of infectious diseases. The efficiency and range of modern transport systems puts people at risk from the emergence of both familiar and new infectious diseases. Therefore it is important to keep searching for new and better targets for antiviral drugs so that we can combat these pathogens.
OBJECTIVES:
The main goal of this project was to identify new cell entry factors for arenaviruses, with a particular interest in virus receptors. To this end, viral reverse genetics was combined with haploid genetics in human cells, a methodology that has been effectively implemented during the last 4 years to study entry of different viruses. We created a comprehensive overview of host factors that are important for arenavirus entry into cells, resulting in a list of human genes that encode candidate arenavirus receptors. Especially for Lujo virus several cell-surface localized receptor candidates could be identified. Follow-up work lead to the validation of those selected genes by creating knockout cells for each individual gene and determine their susceptibility to infection. Genes that, upon inactivation, caused potent resistance to infection were further studied. The proteins encoded by these genes were expressed and investigated for their ability to bind arenavirus envelope proteins. For the proteins that interacted, the internalization pathway in context of infection was analysed in further detail. All together, this lead to mechanistic insight in arenavirus entry pathways in human cells and pinpointed new targets for much-needed antiviral therapies against some of these hemorrhagic fever viruses.
CONCLUSIONS:
Using the technology described above, we have uncovered many host factors for several arenavirus family members. Most importantly, we have identified, amongst others, a novel, specific cell entry receptor for Lujo virus. These insights provide a novel target for therapeutic intervention.
