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Background & Aims: Immune-mediated induction of cytidine deaminase APOBEC3B (A3B) expression leads to HBV covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) decay. Here, we aimed to decipher the signalling pathway(s) and regulatory mechanism(s) involved in A3B induction and related HBV control. Methods: Differentiated HepaRG cells (dHepaRG) knocked-down for NF-κB signalling components, transfected with siRNA or micro RNAs (miRNA), and primary human hepatocytes ± HBV or HBVΔX or HBV-RFP, were treated with lymphotoxin beta receptor (LTβR)-agonist (BS1). The biological outcomes were analysed by reverse transcriptase-qPCR, immunoblotting, luciferase activity, chromatin immune precipitation, electrophoretic mobility-shift assay, targeted-bisulfite-, miRNA-, RNA-, genome-sequencing, and mass-spectrometry. Results: We found that canonical and non-canonical NF-κB signalling pathways are mandatory for A3B induction and anti-HBV effects. The degree of immune-mediated A3B production is independent of A3B promoter demethylation but is controlled post-transcriptionally by the miRNA 138-5p expression (hsa-miR-138-5p), promoting A3B mRNA decay. Hsa-miR-138-5p over-expression reduced A3B levels and its antiviral effects. Of note, established infection inhibited BS1-induced A3B expression through epigenetic modulation of A3B promoter. Twelve days of treatment with a LTβR-specific agonist BS1 is sufficient to reduce the cccDNA pool by 80% without inducing significant damages to a subset of cancer-related host genes. Interestingly, the A3B-mediated effect on HBV is independent of the transcriptional activity of cccDNA as well as on rcDNA synthesis. Conclusions: Altogether, A3B represents the only described enzyme to target both transcriptionally active and inactive cccDNA. Thus, inhibiting hsa-miR-138-5p expression should be considered in the combinatorial design of new therapies against HBV, especially in the context of immune-mediated A3B induction. Lay summary: Immune-mediated induction of cytidine deaminase APOBEC3B is transcriptionally regulated by NF-κB signalling and post-transcriptionally downregulated by hsa-miR-138-5p expression, leading to cccDNA decay. Timely controlled APOBEC3B-mediated cccDNA decay occurs independently of cccDNA transcriptional activity and without damage to a subset of cancer-related genes. Thus, APOBEC3B-mediated cccDNA decay could offer an efficient therapeutic alternative to target hepatitis B virus chronic infection.

Congenital infection by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a leading cause of permanent sequelae of the central nervous system, including sensorineural deafness, cerebral palsies or devastating neurodevelopmental abnormalities (0.1% of all births). To gain insight on the impact of HCMV on neuronal development, we used both neural stem cells from human embryonic stem cells (NSC) and brain sections from infected fetuses and investigated the outcomes of infection on Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma (PPARγ), a transcription factor critical in the developing brain. We observed that HCMV infection dramatically impaired the rate of neuronogenesis and strongly increased PPARγ levels and activity. Consistent with these findings, levels of 9-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid (9-HODE), a known PPARγ agonist, were significantly increased in infected NSCs. Likewise, exposure of uninfected NSCs to 9-HODE recapitulated the effect of infection on PPARγ activity. It also increased the rate of cells expressing the IE antigen in HCMV-infected NSCs. Further, we demonstrated that (1) pharmacological activation of ectopically expressed PPARγ was sufficient to induce impaired neuronogenesis of uninfected NSCs, (2) treatment of uninfected NSCs with 9-HODE impaired NSC differentiation and (3) treatment of HCMV-infected NSCs with the PPARγ inhibitor T0070907 restored a normal rate of differentiation. The role of PPARγ in the disease phenotype was strongly supported by the immunodetection of nuclear PPARγ in brain germinative zones of congenitally infected fetuses (N = 20), but not in control samples. Altogether, our findings reveal a key role for PPARγ in neurogenesis and in the pathophysiology of HCMV congenital infection. They also pave the way to the identification of PPARγ gene targets in the infected brain.

Congenital infection by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a leading cause of congenital abnormalities of the central nervous system. Placenta infection by HCMV allows for viral spread to fetus and may result in intrauterine growth restriction, preeclampsia-like symptoms, or miscarriages. We previously reported that HCMV activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) for its own replication in cytotrophoblasts. Here, we investigated the molecular bases of PPARγ activation in infected cytotrophoblasts.We show that onboarded cPLA2 carried by HCMV particles is required for effective PPARγ activation in infected HIPEC cytotrophoblasts, and for the resulting inhibition of cell migration. Natural PPARγ agonists are generated by PLA2 driven oxidization of linoleic and arachidonic acids. Therefore, using HPLC coupled with mass spectrometry, we disclosed that cellular and secreted levels of 13-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid (13-HODE) and 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (15-HETE) were significantly increased in and from HIPEC cytotrophoblasts at soon as 6 hours post infection. 13-HODE treatment of uninfected HIPEC recapitulated the effect of infection (PPARγ activation, migration impairment). We found that infection of histocultures of normal, first-term, human placental explants resulted in significantly increased levels of secreted 15-HETE and 13-HODE.Our findings reveal that 15-HETE and 13-HODE could be new pathogenic effectors of HCMV congenital infection They provide a new insight about the pathogenesis of congenital infection by HCMV.