Peste des petits ruminants virus non-structural V and C proteins interact with the NF-κB p65 subunit and modulate pro-inflammatory cytokine gene induction.

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) is known to induce transient immunosuppression in infected small ruminants by modulating several cellular pathways involved in the antiviral immune response. Our study shows that the PPRV-coded non-structural proteins C and V can interact with the cellular NF-κB p65 subunit. The PPRV-C protein interacts with the transactivation domain (TAD) while PPRV-V interacts with the Rel homology domain (RHD) of the NF-κB p65 subunit. Both viral proteins can suppress the NF-κB transcriptional activity and NF-κB-mediated transcription of cellular genes. PPRV-V protein expression can significantly inhibit the nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 upon TNF-α stimulation, whereas PPRV-C does not affect it. The NF-κB-mediated pro-inflammatory cytokine gene expression is significantly downregulated in cells expressing PPRV-C or PPRV-V protein. Our study provides evidence suggesting a role of PPRV non-structural proteins V and C in the modulation of NF-κB signalling through interaction with the NF-κB p65 subunit.

Expression, purification, and functional characterisation of flagellin, a TLR5-ligand.

Flagellin, a Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5)-ligand, is known for its activities like adjuvant, induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines and innate immunity. In this context, fliC gene of Salmonella Typhimurium was cloned into pET32a expression plasmid using in-house designed gene specific primers. The frame and orientation of the inserted fliC gene was confirmed upon colony PCR, restriction enzyme analysis and sequencing. Sequence analysis of fliC revealed proper orientation of the gene and had 1,485 nucleotides. Following transformation of pET-fliC plasmid into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells, the gene was expressed after inducing with IPTG (Isopropylß-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside). The polyHis-tag-fliC was ~70kDa as confirmed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The identity/authenticity of the recombinant-fliC was confirmed by its specific reactivity with commercial anti-fliC MAb of S. Typhimurium. Further, the antigenic and functional properties of recombinant-fliC were determined espousing its ability to induce antigen specific antibodies in G pigs and increased m-RNA expression of certain pro-inflammatory mediators like TNF-α and GM-CSF in vitro.