Autophagy-Mediated Dendritic Cell Activation Is Essential for Innate Cytokine Production and APC Function with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Responses

The regulation of innate immune responses during viral infection is a crucial step to promote antiviral reactions. Recent studies have drawn attention to a strong relationship of pathogen-associated molecular pattern recognition with autophagy for activation of APC function. Our initial observations indicated that autophagosomes formed in response to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection of dendritic cells (DC). To further investigate whether RSV-induced DC activation and innate cytokine production were associated with autophagy, we used several methods to block autophagosome formation. Using 3-MA, small interfering RNA inhibition of LC3, or Beclin(+/-) mouse-derived DC, studies established a relationship between RSV-induced autophagy and enhanced type I IFN, TNF, IL-6, and IL-12p40 expression. Moreover, autophagosome formation induced by starvation also promoted innate cytokine expression in DC. The induction of starvation-induced autophagy in combination with RSV infection synergistically enhanced DC cytokine expression that was blocked by an autophagy inhibitor. The latter synergistic responses were differentially altered in DC from MyD88(-/-) and TRIF(-/-) mice, supporting the concept of autophagy-mediated TLR signaling. In addition, blockade of autophagy in RSV-infected DC inhibited the maturation of DC as assessed by MHC class II and costimulatory molecule expression. Subsequently, we demonstrated that inhibition of autophagy in DC used to stimulate primary OVA-induced and secondary RSV-infected responses significantly attenuated cytokine production by CD4(+) T cells. Thus, these studies have outlined that autophagy in DC after RSV infection is a crucial mechanism for driving innate cytokine production, leading to altered acquired immune responses.