B30.2 domain is dispensable for pyrin activation in response to TcdA
Pyrin is a multidomain protein containing a PYD domain, a linker domain containing the two critical phosphorylation residues and encoded by exon 2 (phosphorylated linker domain-PLD), a B-box domain, a central helical scaffold and a B30.2 domain. The role of each domain in pyrin inflammasome activation is still unclear. To answer this question, we used the human monocytic cell line, U937 and generated cell lines stably expressing doxycycline-inducible pyrin variants that lack one of the domains (Fig.1A). U937 cells stably expressing the classical FMF-associated MEFV variant p.M694V were included as a control. The obtained monocytes were first stimulated with C. difficile toxin A (TcdA) and IL-18 release was monitored as an inflammasome readout (Fig. 1B). Cells expressing the pyrin variant lacking the B30.2 domain (ΔB30.2) responded to TcdA and secreted similar or even slightly higher IL-18 levels than cells expressing WT pyrin. In contrast, all the other domain deletions strongly decreased (coiled-coil domain deletion) or abolished IL-18 secretion in response to TcdA. Cells expressing the p.M694V pyrin variant secreted higher level of IL-18 than cells expressing WT pyrin in agreement with the hyper-reactivity of primary monocytes from FMF patients to clostridial toxins19,23. Undifferentiated U937 cells are deficient for IL-1β production. U937 cells were thus differentiated into macrophages using PMA, and LPS was used to induce proIL-1β expression. PMA-differentiated U937 macrophages expressing ΔB30.2 pyrin variant released high levels of IL-1β (Fig. 1C) while all the other cell lines expressing deletion mutants led to minimal IL-1β secretion. No major differences in IL-18 or IL-1β secretion were observed following treatment with the NLRP3-specific stimulus LPS + nigericin (Fig.1 D-E). In the absence of doxycycline (i.e. of pyrin variants induction), TcdA did not trigger IL-1β or IL-18 release (Supplemental Fig. S1). These results show that the pyrin PLD, the B-box and the coiled-coil domains are specifically required for inflammasome cytokines secretion in response to the pyrin-specific stimulus TcdA. Furthermore, these results indicated that the B30.2 domain is dispensable for pyrin activation in response to TcdA.
Deletion of the B30.2 domain suppresses pyrin regulatory step 2.
We have previously demonstrated that FMF-associated p.M694V/I or p.M680I mutations lead to the loss of a regulatory mechanism and to the exclusive control of the pyrin inflammasome by phosphorylation/dephosphorylation 4. This defect can be functionally evidenced by treating cells with a PKC superfamily inhibitor UCN-01, that inhibits PKN1 and PKN2, leading to pyrin dephosphorylation 4. Interestingly, ΔB30.2 pyrin expressing cells released high levels of IL-18 in response to UCN-01. As expected, cells expressing WT pyrin did not release IL-18 in contrast to cells expressing p.M694V variant (Fig. 2A). Similarly, upon differentiation into macrophages and treatment with UCN-01, only cells expressing p.M694V or ΔB30.2 MEFV variants led to a greater secretion of IL-1β than WT pyrin-expressing cells (Fig. 2B). In the absence of doxycycline, UCN-01 did not trigger IL-1β or IL-18 release (Supplemental Fig. S2). These results suggest that deletion of the B30.2 domain abolishes the second pyrin regulatory mechanism to leave pyrin activation under the sole control of pyrin dephosphorylation.
To confirm this phenotype genetically without relying on a chemical inhibitor, we generated a U937 cell line invalidated for step 1 inhibitory mechanism (p.S08C/S242R phospho-null mutations) on a ΔB30.2 background. The phospho-null mutations combined with the p.M694V mutation (p.S208C/S242R/M694V) yield to a constitutively activated pyrin inflammasome 4. The corresponding cell line was thus used as a positive control. Importantly, doxycycline-mediated induction of p.S208C/S242R/ΔB30.2 pyrin variant was sufficient to trigger cell death indicating that this protein is constitutively activated (Fig. 2C, D). Due to the high doxycycline-induced cell death, these cell lines barely responded to UCN-01 stimulation in contrast to p.M694V or ΔB30.2 single mutants (Fig. 2C, E). Similarly, induction of the p.S208C/S242R/ΔB30.2 pyrin protein led to potent IL-18 secretion in the absence of any additional stimulus (Fig. 2F). These results indicate that deletion of the B30.2 domain fully invalidated pyrin regulatory mechanism 2 and, when combined with mutations invalidating pyrin regulatory mechanism 1, led to constitutive activation of this pyrin variant. Taken together these results demonstrate that the B30.2 domain of pyrin acts as a negative regulator of pyrin activation following TcdA treatment, UCN-01-mediated dephosphorylation or genetic invalidation of phosphorylation sites.
The B30.2 domain-mediated regulation acts downstream of pyrin dephosphorylation, upstream of ASC speck formation and, independently from caspase-1.
The above results suggest that pyrin B30.2 domain-mediated regulation acts on pyrin regulatory mechanism 2 or downstream and not on the first regulatory mechanism associated with pyrin phosphorylation/dephosphorylation. Since the impact of FMF-associated, B30.2-affecting point mutations on phosphorylation is unclear 4,6,7,9,24, we investigated the impact of B30.2 deletion on pyrin dephosphorylation. Although at steady state, the ΔB30.2 pyrin protein was expressed at higher level than WT or p.M694V protein variants (possibly reflecting a greater stability), we could not detect any impact of the B30.2 deletion on UCN-01-mediated pyrin dephosphorylation (Fig. 3A-B). The B30.2-mediated regulation thus likely occurs downstream of pyrin dephosphorylation.
To further map the B30.2-mediated regulation along the pyrin inflammasome activation process, we monitored ASC speck formation following UCN-01 treatment. As expected, and in line with the results presented above, UCN-01-mediated pyrin dephosphorylation was sufficient to trigger ASC speck formation in cells expressing p.M694V or ΔB30.2 pyrin variants (Fig 3, C-D). Cells expressing WT pyrin did not display any increase in ASC speck formation in the presence of UCN-01 (i.e. upon pyrin dephosphorylation). These results thus indicate that the B30.2-mediated regulation takes place downstream of pyrin dephosphorylation but upstream of ASC speck formation.
The B30.2 domain has been shown to interact with caspase-1 leading to the hypothesis that the B30.2 domain could regulate pyrin inflammasome through caspase-1 inhibition 25–27. Yet, the above results demonstrate that the B30.2 domain regulates pyrin activation upstream of ASC speck formation suggesting that it may act independently of caspase-1. To validate this finding, we transduced the various pyrin mutants in caspase-1-deficient cells (Supplemental Fig. S3) and quantified ASC speck formation in response to UCN-01 (Fig. 3C-D). ASC speck formation was slightly higher in these cells likely due to the lack of caspase-1-mediated pyroptosis. Yet, in the absence of caspase-1, UCN-01 increased ASC speck formation in ΔB30.2 pyrin-expressing cells but not in WT pyrin-expressing cells clearly indicating that B30.2 negatively regulates pyrin inflammasome activation downstream of the dephosphorylation, upstream of ASC speck formation and independently of caspase-1. Since p.M694V mimics B30.2 deletion for all the above assays, these results suggest that the p.M694V mutation fully abolishes the negative regulatory function of this domain. This exon 10-encoded mutation may thus be classified as a loss-of-function mutation with regard to the functionality of the B30.2 domain (loss of the negative regulation) and thus a as gain of function in term of the full protein.
Mutations in the Central Helical Scaffold phenocopy B30.2 pathogenic mutations in terms of UCN-01-mediated responses.
Structural data on the C-terminal part of the pyrin protein indicates that the B30.2 domain interacts with another domain, termed the central helical scaffold which is made of coiled-coil α helices. This 272 amino acid-long domain (from 414 to 586), encoded by MEFV exons 3-8, has a function largely unknown and mutations affecting this domain mostly result in MEFV variants of unknown significance 28.
We thus generated five distinct U937 cell lines expressing MEFV variants of unknown significance identified in patients. These variants (p.Q426R; p.H478Y; p.F479L; p.E552D; p.L559F) present mutations in various section of the CHS domain (Fig. 4A). All these constructs were expressed under a doxycycline-inducible promoter. Addition of doxycycline induced all these variants (Supplemental Fig. S4A) but did not trigger substantial cell death indicating that the corresponding proteins are not constitutively activated. We then assessed the impact of each of this variant on TcdA-triggered responses. Cells expressing the dominant p.H478Y variant behaved like cells expressing p.M694V variant and underwent cell death significantly faster than WT MEFV-expressing cells (Fig. 4 B-C). A similar trend, although not statistically different from WT was observed for cells expressing p.Q426R, p.F479L, or p.L559F variants. Cells expressing p.E552D MEFV variant had a milder and more variable phenotype than all the other cell lines. LPS + nigericin-mediated cell death was similar in all the cell lines (with some kinetics differences potentially linked to a cross-talk between pyrin and NLRP3 inflammasomes 20) (Supplemental Fig. S4B-D). IL-1β quantification led to the same conclusions with TcdA-mediated responses being statistically greater in cells expressing p.H478Y and p.M694V MEFV variants (Fig. 4D). Thus, in agreement with Honda and colleagues 23, we observed that different mutations within MEFV, including p.M694V, lead to different level of enhancement of TcdA-triggered responses. This suggests that different CHS-targeting mutations may cause different level of deregulation of the pyrin inflammasome.
To confirm this, we switched to UCN-01, which better discriminates whether the variants behave like the prototypical p.M694V variant 4,23,29. Three of these variants-expressing cell lines (p.Q426R, p.H478Y and p.F479L) responded to UCN-01 and underwent a rapid cell death, previously characterized as a pyroptotic cell death (Fig. 4E-F). This inflammasome response was confirmed by quantifying IL-18 secretion (Fig. 4G). To genetically strengthen these findings, the 5 CHS mutations were combined to p.S208C/p.S242R mutations. These results (Fig. 4H-J) confirmed the major phenotype of p.Q426R, p.H478Y (and as expected p.M694V). p.F479L, also caused substantial deregulation of the pyrin inflammasome responses when combined to p.S208C/p.S242R mutations although the difference with WT pyrin was not statistically significant in all the assays.
Overall, these results indicate that specific CHS-affecting mutations mimic pathogenic FMF mutations affecting the B30.2 domain (e.g. p.M694V) and activate the pyrin inflammasome following dephosphorylation. Based on these cellular phenotypes, they should thus be qualified as pathogenic mutations. Interestingly, these assays clearly indicate that the different mutations have different quantitative impact on the pyrin inflammasome mirroring the clinical FMF presentations that rank from mild to severe 17.
Distinct mutations in the CHS domain render pyrin highly susceptible to low doses of steroid catabolites.
We recently identified that the pyrin inflammasome can be activated by pregnanolone and etiocholanolone, two catabolites from the steroid hormones, progesterone and testosterone. This response is dependent on the B30.2 and on the CHS domains12. We thus wondered whether the identified pathogenic mutations also affected the response to steroid catabolites. U937 cell lines expressing the different MEFV variants were thus treated with increasing concentrations of pregnanolone and the concentration required to trigger 50% cell death (EC50) was determined. Strikingly, two mutations, p.Q426R and p.F479L, decreased pregnanolone EC50 by >50-fold (Fig. 5A). Indeed, 2 μM of pregnanolone killed 50% of p.F479L or p.Q426R-expressing cells (EC50 =1.9 +/- 2.6 μM; n=5 and EC50 =2.1 +/- 3.6 μM; n=6, respectively), while EC50 for WT MEFV-expressing cells was 110 +/- 27 μM; (n=7) (Fig. 5B). Similar differences were observed in response to etiocholanolone although not as drastic potentially due to the lower ability of etiocholanolone to activate the pyrin inflammasome. As previously described 12, cells expressing p.M694V did not demonstrate a substantial reduction in EC50. Surprisingly, cells expressing p.H478Y variant were largely resistant to etiocholanolone and to a lower extent to pregnanolone. These results suggest that mutations affecting the CHS have divergent effect on the steroid catabolites response. The same conclusions were reached when investigating the ability of pregnanolone to trigger IL-1β secretion. Indeed, IL-1β secretion rapidly decreased with decreasing doses of pregnanolone in WT or p.H478Y MEFV-expressing U937 cells while it was maintained until 0.2 μM in cell lines expressing p.Q426R or p.F479L MEFV variants (Supplemental Fig. S5).
To get insights into the molecular mechanism, we investigated pyrin S242 phosphorylation at steady state and upon exposure to low (6 μM) or high (50 μM) doses of pregnanolone. In contrast to the high doses, low doses of pregnanolone do not promote WT pyrin dephosphorylation12. No major differences were seen in terms of steady state phosphorylation levels in the different cell lines (Fig. 5C). Yet, low doses of pregnanolone significantly triggered dephosphorylation of pyrin in cells expressing p.Q426R or p.F479L MEFV variants (Fig. 5C). In agreement with the high doses required to trigger pyrin activation in WT cells, pyrin dephosphorylation was only observed at 50 μM in the other cell lines. Similarly, UCN-01 triggered dephosphorylation in all the cell lines.
Altogether, these data indicate that distinct CHS mutations trigger distinct pyrin inflammasome deregulation. In particular, three mutations (p.Q426R, p.H478Y, p.F479L) behaved as the prototypical FMF exon 10 mutation p.M694V and rendered the pyrin inflammasome controlled only by dephosphorylation. Interestingly, only two of these (p.Q426R and p.F479L) had a further deregulation of pyrin inflammasome responses with an exquisite sensitivity to steroid catabolites.
Primary human monocytes from patients presenting the p.F479L mutation demonstrate pyrin inflammasome response to low doses of steroid catabolites.
p.Q426R and p.F479L are rare to very rare mutations (Supplemental Fig. S6A). One FMF patient with p.Q426R heterozygous mutation was identified but we could not get neither her/his clinical information nor primary cells from this patient. Eight FMF patients with the p.F479L mutation were identified in six French clinical centers (Supplemental Table S1). The p.E167D mutation co-segregates with the p.F479L mutation in a complex allele (Supplemental Fig. S6B) and was identified in at least 7 out of 8 patients. All patients were compound heterozygous patients with the p.V726A mutation. U937 cells expressing p.E167D MEFV variant showed similar phenotypes as WT MEFV-expressing cells (Supplemental Fig. S6C-P) suggesting that this variant is likely a benign polymorphism and does not affect in a substantial way WT or p.F479L pyrin responses. p.V726A variant is usually associated with incomplete penetrance or milder forms of the disease 17. Yet, all the patients displayed typical FMF disease (Supplemental Table S1) strongly suggesting that, in agreement with the above results and with previous studies 23,29, the p.F479L MEFV variant is pathogenic. Indeed, primary monocytes from patients presenting the p.F479L mutation responded to UCN-01 by secreting IL-1β (Fig. 6A). As expected, monocytes from healthy donors did not demonstrate substantial production of IL-1β in response to UCN-01 while their pyrin inflammasome could be triggered by TcdB (Fig. 6A). We then investigated whether primary monocytes from these patients responded to low doses of the steroid catabolites pregnanolone and etiocholanolone (6 μM and 12 μM, respectively). As observed with U937 cells, primary monocytes bearing the p.F479L mutation released IL-1β in response to low doses of pregnanolone and etiocholanolone (Fig. 6A) while monocytes from HD did not. A large difference in IL-1β secretion between monocytes from HD and patient bearing the p.F479L was also seen at higher doses of steroid catabolites (50 and 100 μM) although at these doses, inflammasome activation was observed in primary monocytes from HD (Fig 6A). Similar results were observed when investigating primary monocytes cell death in real time (Fig. 6B-J). Indeed, primary monocytes from p.F479L expressing patients died in response to low doses of pregnanolone and etiocholanolone (Fig. 6B, E, J) in contrast to monocytes from HD. At higher doses of steroid catabolites, cell death was more extensive in primary monocytes from p.F479L-expressing patients than in monocytes from HD (Fig. 6C, F, J). As observed with IL-1β secretion (Fig. 6A), these differences were largely ablated in the presence of both steroid catabolites and UCN-01 (Fig. 6D, G, J) suggesting that the p.F479L mutation may affect a coupling mechanism between low doses of steroid catabolites and dephosphorylation. As previously described 12, FMF patients with MEFV mutations in exon 10 did not respond to low doses of etiocholanolone or pregnanolone but presented a moderate increase response to high doses of steroid catabolites (Fig. 6A-J).
Altogether, these results validate, in primary patients bearing the p.F479L mutation, that specific FMF-associated MEFV mutations render pyrin inflammasome sensitive to low doses of steroid catabolites.