ENPP1’s regulation of extracellular cGAMP is a ubiquitous mechanism of attenuating STING signaling

Abstract

Significance The immune system strikes a careful balance between launching a robust response to threats and avoiding overactivation. The molecule cGAMP is an immunotransmitter that activates innate immunity and signals extracellularly, where it is subject to degradation by the enzyme ENPP1. Here, we engineer ENPP1 to lose activity toward cGAMP but not other substrates, thus creating a biochemically precise tool to understand how ENPP1 regulates extracellular cGAMP and thus innate immunity. We uncover that ENPP1's degradation of extracellular cGAMP has a long evolutionary history, and that this mechanism is critical for controlling diverse immune threats, including viral infection and inflammation.