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Asthma exacerbations caused by respiratory viral infections are a serious global health problem. Impaired antiviral immunity is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis, but the underlying mechanisms remain understudied. Here using mouse models we find that Cullin5 (CUL5), a key component of Cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligase 5, is upregulated and associated with increased neutrophil count and influenza-induced exacerbations of house dust mite-induced asthma. By contrast, CUL5 deficiency mitigates neutrophilic lung inflammation and asthma exacerbations by augmenting IFN-β production. Mechanistically, following thymic stromal lymphopoietin stimulation, CUL5 interacts with O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and induces Lys48-linked polyubiquitination of OGT, blocking the effect of OGT on mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein O-GlcNAcylation and RIG-I signaling activation. Our results thus suggest that, in mouse models, pre-existing allergic injury induces CUL5 expression, impairing antiviral immunity and promoting neutrophilic inflammation for asthma exacerbations. Targeting of the CUL5/IFN-β signaling axis may thereby serve as a possible therapy for treating asthma exacerbations.
Zhang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.