NLRP1 restricts porcine deltacoronavirus infection via IL-11 inhibiting the phosphorylation of the ERK signaling pathway

Abstract

ABSTRACT Continuously emerging highly pathogenic coronaviruses remain a major threat to human and animal health. Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a newly emerging enterotropic swine coronavirus that causes large-scale outbreaks of severe diarrhea disease in piglets. Unlike other porcine coronaviruses, PDCoV has a wide range of species tissue tropism, including primary human cells, which poses a significant risk of cross-species transmission. Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor (NLR) family pyrin domain-containing 1 (NLRP1) has a key role in linking host innate immunity to microbes and the regulation of inflammatory pathways. We now report a role for NLRP1 in the control of PDCoV infection. Overexpression of NLRP1 remarkably suppressed PDCoV infection, whereas knockout of NLRP1 led to a significant increase in PDCoV replication. A mechanistic study revealed that NLRP1 suppressed PDCoV replication in cells by upregulating IL-11 expression, which in turn inhibited the phosphorylation of the ERK signaling pathway. Furthermore, the ERK phosphorylation inhibitor U0126 effectively hindered PDCoV replication in pigs. Together, our results demonstrated that NLRP1 exerted an anti-PDCoV effect by IL-11-mediated inhibition of the phosphorylation of the ERK signaling pathway, providing a novel antiviral signal axis of NLRP1-IL-11-ERK. This study expands our understanding of the regulatory network of NLRP1 in the host defense against virus infection and provides a new insight into the treatment of coronaviruses and the development of corresponding drugs. IMPORTANCE Coronavirus, which mainly infects gastrointestinal and respiratory epithelial cells in vivo , poses a huge threat to both humans and animals. Although porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is known to primarily cause fatal diarrhea in piglets, reports detected in plasma samples from Haitian children emphasize the potential risk of animal-to-human spillover. Finding effective therapeutics against coronaviruses is crucial for controlling viral infection. Nucleotide-binding oligomerization-like receptor (NLR) family pyrin domain-containing 1 (NLRP1), a key regulatory factor in the innate immune system, is highly expressed in epithelial cells and associated with the pathogenesis of viruses. We demonstrate here that NLRP1 inhibits the infection of the intestinal coronavirus PDCoV through IL-11-mediated phosphorylation inhibition of the ERK signaling pathway. Furthermore, the ERK phosphorylation inhibitor can control the infection of PDCoV in pigs. Our study emphasizes the importance of NLRP1 as an immune regulatory factor and may open up new avenues for the treatment of coronavirus infection.