Pellino-1 regulates the responses of the airway to viral infection

Exposure to respiratory pathogens is a leading cause of exacerbations of airway diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Pellino-1 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase known to regulate virally-induced inflammation. We wished to determine the role of Pellino-1 in the host response to respiratory viruses in health and disease. Pellino-1 expression was examined in bronchial sections from patients with GOLD stage 2 COPD and healthy controls. Primary bronchial epithelial cells (PBECs), in which Pellino-1 expression had been knocked down, were extracellularly challenged with the TLR3 agonist poly(I:C). C57BL/6 Peli1-/- mice and wild type littermates were subjected to intranasal infection with clinically-relevant respiratory viruses; rhinovirus (RV1B) and influenza A. We find that Pellino-1 is expressed in the airways of normal subjects and those with COPD, and that Pellino-1 regulates TLR3 signalling and responses to airways viruses. In particular we observed that knockout of
Pellino‐1 in the murine lung resulted in increased production of proinflammatory cytokines IL‐6 and TNFα upon viral infection, accompanied by enhanced recruitment of immune cells to the airways, without any change in viral replication. Pellino-1 therefore regulates inflammatory airway responses without altering replication of respiratory viruses.

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