Newton001 The dependency of HIV-1 and dengue virus infections on host metabolism as novel targets for antiviral therapy.
Lead Research Organisation:
King's College London
Department Name: Immunology Infection and Inflam Diseases
Abstract
Infectious diseases account for a vast proportion of deaths and disabilities worldwide. Brazil has a very high incidence of dengue with a total of 1,453,786 reported cases of infection and 235 deaths in 2013. In addition, 730,000 people living with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection were recorded in Brazil in 2013. With a prevalence of 0.6% of adults being infected with HIV-1, Brazil has twice the incidence of HIV-1 as is the average in developed nations, such as the UK. There are no specific treatments for dengue, nor vaccines for either dengue virus or HIV-1. Life-long antiretroviral therapy is effective in controlling HIV-1, but side effects and emergence of viral drug resistance are commonplace. Thus, new antivirals that target dengue virus or HIV-1 are needed and would have the potential to benefit countries that are particularly burdened by these infections, such as Brazil.
All viruses are devoid of the metabolic machinery to provide the resources to fuel virus replication. Therefore, viruses are dependent on host metabolism and this may provide an "achilles heel" for drug development. Metabolism is an area that has attracted attention for developing anti-cancer therapies because cancers are associated with metabolic alterations. Targeting the host metabolism instead of viral components would circumvent the emergence of drug resistant viruses. This project sets out to map the dependency of dengue virus and HIV-1 on cellular metabolism to inform the development of novel antiviral therapies.
All viruses are devoid of the metabolic machinery to provide the resources to fuel virus replication. Therefore, viruses are dependent on host metabolism and this may provide an "achilles heel" for drug development. Metabolism is an area that has attracted attention for developing anti-cancer therapies because cancers are associated with metabolic alterations. Targeting the host metabolism instead of viral components would circumvent the emergence of drug resistant viruses. This project sets out to map the dependency of dengue virus and HIV-1 on cellular metabolism to inform the development of novel antiviral therapies.
Technical Summary
Dengue virus
Profound changes in hepatic metabolism are common in severe forms of dengue. Specifically, the team of Dr. Da Poian demonstrated that infection with DENV promoted changes in mitochondrial bioenergetics, such as a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential, altered respiratory properties, mitochondrial swelling and morphological changes typical of apoptosis. We hypothesise that the metabolic changes observed in liver cells during infection are caused by the interaction of specific viral proteins with cellular components. We intend to explore the roles of the dengue virus proteins NS1 and NS3 in causing these metabolic perturbations. To evaluate the effect of NS1 and NS3 expression on the metabolism of liver cells, we will use three experimental approaches: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) metabolomics, high-resolution respirometry and parallel measurements of oxygen consumption and extracellular acidification rates.
HIV-1
HIV-1 replicates primarily in activated CD4+ T cells that are characterised by high metabolic activity but not in resting cells that are metabolically quiescent. The group of Dr. Huthoff has recently demonstrated that HIV-1 infected cells show higher glycolytic activity than uninfected cells. Furthermore, HIV-1 virion production was shown to depend on the provision of glucose to the cells. However, of several glycolytic enzymes investigated, none showed differential expression in infected compared with uninfected cells. Therefore, we hypothesise that not the expression but the activity of glycolytic enzymes is altered in HIV-1 infected cells. The team of Dr. Da Poian has optimised in vitro assays for each of the enzymatic activities in the glycolytic pathway. We will therefore generate cell lysates of CD4+ T cells that are infected or not with HIV-1 and determine the activity of each of the glycolytic enzymes. This will lead to the identification of the steps in glycolysis that are upregulated upon infection with HIV-1.
Profound changes in hepatic metabolism are common in severe forms of dengue. Specifically, the team of Dr. Da Poian demonstrated that infection with DENV promoted changes in mitochondrial bioenergetics, such as a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential, altered respiratory properties, mitochondrial swelling and morphological changes typical of apoptosis. We hypothesise that the metabolic changes observed in liver cells during infection are caused by the interaction of specific viral proteins with cellular components. We intend to explore the roles of the dengue virus proteins NS1 and NS3 in causing these metabolic perturbations. To evaluate the effect of NS1 and NS3 expression on the metabolism of liver cells, we will use three experimental approaches: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) metabolomics, high-resolution respirometry and parallel measurements of oxygen consumption and extracellular acidification rates.
HIV-1
HIV-1 replicates primarily in activated CD4+ T cells that are characterised by high metabolic activity but not in resting cells that are metabolically quiescent. The group of Dr. Huthoff has recently demonstrated that HIV-1 infected cells show higher glycolytic activity than uninfected cells. Furthermore, HIV-1 virion production was shown to depend on the provision of glucose to the cells. However, of several glycolytic enzymes investigated, none showed differential expression in infected compared with uninfected cells. Therefore, we hypothesise that not the expression but the activity of glycolytic enzymes is altered in HIV-1 infected cells. The team of Dr. Da Poian has optimised in vitro assays for each of the enzymatic activities in the glycolytic pathway. We will therefore generate cell lysates of CD4+ T cells that are infected or not with HIV-1 and determine the activity of each of the glycolytic enzymes. This will lead to the identification of the steps in glycolysis that are upregulated upon infection with HIV-1.
Planned Impact
N/A
People |
ORCID iD |
Hendrik Huthoff (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Hegedus A
(2017)
Evidence for Altered Glutamine Metabolism in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infected Primary Human CD4+ T Cells.
in AIDS research and human retroviruses
Kavanagh Williamson M
(2018)
Upregulation of Glucose Uptake and Hexokinase Activity of Primary Human CD4+ T Cells in Response to Infection with HIV-1.
in Viruses
Description | GRC viruses and cells conference, Spain |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented a poster at the 2015 GRC viruses and cells |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Microbiology conference, Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | delivered a talk on the research at the brazilian society of microbiology conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://sbmicrobiologia.org.br/28CBM2015/ |
Description | Retrovirology meeting, Cambridge, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Delivered a talk on the research at this meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Student placements from local schools for work experience, four students to date one week each |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | four students from local schools have to date come on a work-experience placement in my lab. Two of them have since reported having been offered places at their universities of first choice to study a related subject. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | guest Lecture at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | I delivered a guest lecture on metabolic regulation of immune activation and HIV infections to postgradueate and undergraduate students at the Federal univesity of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | metabolism and immunity conference, Ireland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | PhD student delivered a talk, post-doc presented a poster |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | practice interviews for medicine studies admission with pupils from Walworth Academy, London |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | performed practice interviews with two pupils from the Walworth academy, London, to prepare them for the admission interviews to study medicine at university |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |