Most monocytic cell lines fail to recapitulate the HIV-1 restriction phenotype that is witnessed in primary dendritic cells and to a lesser extent in macrophages. One exception is represented by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-differentiated THP-1 monocytic cells
1,2,4-6. Transduction of differentiated THP-1 cells by virus-like particles containing Vpx (VLP-Vpx) has been shown to increase their permissiveness to HIV-1 infection
1. To identify the restriction factor targeted by Vpx, we generated a stable THP-1 cell line expressing Flag-HA epitope-tagged Vpx
mac251 from sooty mangabey (THP-1-Vpx). As expected, THP-1-Vpx cells were 17-fold more permissive to HIV-1 infection than parental cells when exposed to a vesicular stomatitis virus G protein (G)-pseudotyped HIV-1 with the luciferase gene in place of
nef (HIV-LUC-G) (
Supplementary Fig. 1). After differentiation, extracts were prepared from THP-1 and THP-1-Vpx cells. Flag-HA–Vpx
mac251 (F/H-Vpx) was purified using tandem affinity chromatography
8. Purified Vpx
mac251-associated proteins were resolved by SDS–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and silver stained (). The eluates were further analysed by mass spectrometry to allow for the identification of cellular partners that engage with Vpx
mac251 in non-permissive cells. Previously described Vpx
mac251 interactants were recovered, including the DDB1–CUL4–DCAF E3 ligase complex
9,10, confirming the validity of our approach. The SAM- and HD-domain-containing protein SAMHD1 was identified as a major Vpx
mac251-interacting protein (). SAMHD1 was initially isolated as an interferon (IFN)-
γ-induced factor in macrophages and dendritic cells
11,12 for which a function in innate immunity has been suggested
7,13. Furthermore, mutations in
SAMHD1 have been shown to be responsible for 5% of Aicardi–Goutières syndrome cases, a genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by inappropriate activation of the immune system and aberrant IFN-α secretion, symptoms reminiscent of congenital infection
7.
| Table 1Major F/H-Vpx interactants identified by mass spectrometry |
The interaction of SAMHD1 with Vpx
mac251 was confirmed by Flag-immunoprecipitation of F/H-Vpx and western blot analysis using a SAMHD1-specific antibody (). Notably, analysis of whole-cell extracts of THP-1-Vpx as compared to THP-1 reveals that expression of Vpx
mac251 correlates with lower expression levels of SAMHD1 (). Transient delivery of Vpx
mac251 into THP-1 cells through VLP-Vpx exposure caused a marked decrease in SAMHD1 levels in THP-1 cells (). Moreover, treatment of cells with the proteasome inhibitor MG132 restored SAMHD1 protein levels (), strongly suggesting that Vpx
mac251 induces proteasomal degradation of SAMHD1. Additionally, when SAMHD1 was expressed in HeLa cells, Vpx also caused its degradation, demonstrating that Vpx-induced degradation of SAMHD1 is not a cell-type-specific process and excluding a potential transcriptional effect of Vpx on
SAMHD1 (
Supplementary Fig. 2). These results led us to postulate that SAMHD1 may be the restriction factor that renders dendritic cells refractory to HIV-1 infection. Consistently, SAMHD1 is highly expressed in HIV-1 non-permissive cells such as THP-1, monocytes and monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDCs), whereas it is absent from HIV-1-sensitive T-cell lines such as Jurkat, SupT1, human peripheral blood acute lymphoid leukaemia (HPB-ALL) and U937 (). In correlation with their degree of permissiveness to HIV-1 (refs
1,
4), monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) express low levels of SAMHD1 as compared to their highly refractory monocyte precursor ().
It has been reported that Vpx-mediated enhancement of HIV-1 infection in dendritic cells and myeloid cells is conserved exclusively within the SIV
SM (sooty mangabey) and HIV-2 lineage (refs
1,
2 and
Supplementary Fig. 2a). Concurrent with this observation, we show that Vpx
mac251 and HIV-2
ROD Vpx (Vpx
ROD) both caused degradation of SAMHD1, whereas Vpx from SIV
RCM of red-capped mangabeys (isolates of Nigerian (Vpx
RCM-NG) or Gabonese (Vpx
RCM-GAB) origin) failed to degrade SAMHD1 when expressed in THP-1 ( and
Supplementary Fig. 3a, b) or HeLa cells (
Supplementary Fig. 3c). Additionally, loss-of-function mutants Vpx(Q76A) and Vpx(F80A) also failed to degrade SAMHD1in differentiated THP-1 cells (
Supplementary Fig. 3d).
To assess directly the impact of expression of SAMHD1 on HIV-1 infection, we used short hairpin RNAs (shRNA) to generate SAMHD1-silent THP-1 cells(THP-1-shSAMHD1) or scrambled shRNA (THP-1-scr) (
Supplementary Fig. 4). Infection of THP-1-shSAMHD1 cells with HIV-LUC-G results in up to a 12-fold increase in luciferase activity as compared to THP-1-scr cells, demonstrating that depletion of SAMHD1 is sufficient to increase the permissiveness of THP-1 cells to HIV-1 infection (). As expected, HIV-1 infection of THP-1-shSAMHD1 cells was not further enhanced by treatment with VLP-Vpx ( and
Supplementary Fig. 5). Importantly, expression of a shRNA-resistant SAMHD1 mutant (SAMHD1-R) in THP-1-shSAMHD1 cells restored the restriction phenotype in these cells ( and
Supplementary Fig. 6). To investigate further whether SAMHD1 possesses an intrinsic restriction activity targeting HIV-1, we stably expressed Flag-HA-tagged SAMHD1 (SAMHD1-F/H) in permissive U937 monocytic cells (U937-SAMHD1). Differentiated U937-SAMHD1 cells were 16-fold less permissive to infection with HIV-LUC-G than parental cells ( and
Supplementary Fig. 8). HD domains have an important role in nucleotide metabolism through their nucleotidase and phosphodiesterase activities, where H and D residues are of crucial importance
14. Interestingly, U937 cells stably expressing the SAMHD1(HD/AA) (U937-SAMHD1(HD/AA)) mutant did not show restriction activity towards HIV-1 as compared to U937-SAMHD1 cells, indicating that the putative phosphohydrolase activity of SAMHD1 may be required for restriction of HIV-1 ( and
Supplementary Figs 7 and 8). Additionally, transient expression of SAMHD1-F/H, but not SAMHD1(HD/AA), in permissive HeLa cells induced restriction of HIV-1 infection (
Supplementary Fig. 7).
Vpx has been shown to facilitate HIV-1 replication by promoting accumulation of viral DNA
1,2,4,5,15. To investigate at which step of the viral replication cycle SAMHD1-dependent restriction operates, we quantified total viral DNA species 24 h after infection of THP-1-shSAMHD1 cells (). A 13-fold accumulation of total viral DNA was observed in SAMHD1-silenced cells as compared to their THP-1-scr counterpart. This observation locates the restriction operated by SAMHD1 at the reverse transcription step, which has been previously described to be overcome by Vpx in dendritic and myeloid cells
2.
Exposure of differentiated THP-1, MDDCs and MDMs to VLP-Vpx relieves restriction to HIV-1 infection ( and
Supplementary Fig. 9) and correlates with a decrease in SAMHD1 levels ( and
Supplementary Fig. 9). Lower basal levels of SAMHD1 in primary MDMs () may be accountable for the weaker impact of VLP-Vpx treatment of these cells (
Supplementary Fig. 9). Next, we asked whether SAMHD1 restricts HIV-1 infection of primary human dendritic cells. Immature MDDCs were prepared from the blood of four healthy donors. To silence SAMHD1 expression, we treated MDDCs with two different SAMHD1-specific siRNAs (si-SAMHD1-1 or si-SAMHD1-2). Scrambled or siRNA targeting dynamin 2 (siDYN2) were used as controls ( and
Supplementary Fig. 10). MDDCs were transduced (at 48 h after silencing) with green-fluorescent-protein- or luciferase-encoding lentiviral vectors (LV-GFP or LV-LUC, respectively) or with a VSV-G-pseudotyped HIV (HIV-G). Silencing of SAMHD1 resulted in up to a 6-fold increase of GFP-positive cells with LV-GFP, 25-fold enhanced luciferase activity with LV-LUC, and up to 34-fold increased Gag-positive cells with HIV-G( and
Supplementary Fig. 10), demonstrating that SAMHD1 silencing in dendritic cells enhances their susceptibility to HIV-1 infection.
So far, three restriction factors (TRIM5α, APOBEC-3G and tetherin) have been identified that could have constituted a major hindrance to HIV-1 replication, had the virus not developed ways to counteract or to escape their action
16-18. These restriction factors are part of the intrinsic immunity that is circumvented by HIV-1 mainly through the action of its auxiliary proteins. However, the cell-type-specific restriction factor SAMHD1 is not counteracted by HIV-1, resulting in poorly efficient replication in dendritic cells. Indeed, in the normal course of HIV-1 infection and because dendritic cells are non-permissive, these cells rather facilitate viral dissemination through trans-enhancement of infection, eventually favouring CD4
+ T-cell depletion
19,20. Poor HIV-1 replication in dendritic cells may also allow for avoidance of a recently described cryptic viral sensor that would otherwise elicit antiviral interferon-induced immune responses
20,21. Similarly, in productively infected CD4
+ T cells, through the action of the cellular DNase TREX1, HIV-1 avoids the induction of type 1 IFN production that could result from accumulation of viral DNA
20,22. Of note, both TREX1 and SAMHD1 deficiencies lead to Aicardi–Goutières syndrome, indicating that they have an impact on the same pathway of cell-intrinsic antiviral response
7. SAMHD1, through the putative nucleotidase activity, may degrade or prevent accumulation of HIV DNA. It will be worth determining further the relative roles of TREX1 and SAMHD1 in the control of virus infection and in the triggering of innate antiviral and inflammatory responses.
Our findings position SAMHD1 as pivotal to the fate of infection by HIV-1 in cells of the myeloid lineage. Thus, modulating SAMHD1 function could render human hosts more prone to develop appropriate innate and adaptive immune responses
19,22-24. Our findings should be integrated in the development of dendritic-cell-targeted vaccines against HIV/AIDS.