Identification of host-dependent survival factors for intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis through an siRNA screen.

The stable infection of host macrophages by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) involves, and depends on, the attenuation of the diverse microbicidal responses mounted by the host cell. This is primarily achieved through targeted perturbations of the host cellular signaling machinery. Therefore, in view of the dependency of the pathogen on host molecules for its intracellular survival, we wanted to test whether targeting such factors could provide an alternate route for the therapeutic management of tuberculosis. To first identify components of the host signaling machinery that regulate intracellular survival of Mtb, we performed an siRNA screen against all known kinases and phosphatases in murine macrophages infected with the virulent strain, H37Rv. Several validated targets could be identified by this method where silencing led either to a significant decrease, or enhancement in the intracellular mycobacterial load. To further resolve the functional relevance of these targets, we also screened against these identified targets in cells infected with different strains of multiple drug-resistant mycobacteria which differed in terms of their intracellular growth properties. The results obtained subsequently allowed us to filter the core set of host regulatory molecules that functioned independently of the phenotypic variations exhibited by the pathogen. Then, using a combination of both in vitro and in vivo experimentation, we could demonstrate that at least some of these host factors provide attractive targets for anti-TB drug development. These results provide a "proof-of-concept" demonstration that targeting host factors subverted by intracellular Mtb provides an attractive and feasible strategy for the development of anti-tuberculosis drugs. Importantly, our findings also emphasize the advantage of such an approach by establishing its equal applicability to infections with Mtb strains exhibiting a range of phenotypic diversifications, including multiple drug-resistance. Thus the host factors identified here may potentially be exploited for the development of anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Cellular phosphatases facilitate combinatorial processing of receptor-activated signals.

BACKGROUND: Although reciprocal regulation of protein phosphorylation represents a key aspect of signal transduction, a larger perspective on how these various interactions integrate to contribute towards signal processing is presently unclear. For example, a key unanswered question is that of how phosphatase-mediated regulation of phosphorylation at the individual nodes of the signaling network translates into modulation of the net signal output and, thereby, the cellular phenotypic response. RESULTS: To address the above question we, in the present study, examined the dynamics of signaling from the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) under conditions where individual cellular phosphatases were selectively depleted by siRNA. Results from such experiments revealed a highly enmeshed structure for the signaling network where each signaling node was linked to multiple phosphatases on the one hand, and each phosphatase to several nodes on the other. This resulted in a configuration where individual signaling intermediates could be influenced by a spectrum of regulatory phosphatases, but with the composition of the spectrum differing from one intermediate to another. Consequently, each node differentially experienced perturbations in phosphatase activity, yielding a unique fingerprint of nodal signals characteristic to that perturbation. This heterogeneity in nodal experiences, to a given perturbation, led to combinatorial manipulation of the corresponding signaling axes for the downstream transcription factors. CONCLUSION: Our cumulative results reveal that it is the tight integration of phosphatases into the signaling network that provides the plasticity by which perturbation-specific information can be transmitted in the form of a multivariate output to the downstream transcription factor network. This output in turn specifies a context-defined response, when translated into the resulting gene expression profile.