Histone mRNA polyadenylation-mediated inflammation underlies various virus infections and cancers

The mechanistic understanding of virus infection and inflammation in many diseases is incomplete. Normally, messenger RNA (mRNA) tails of replication-dependent histones (RDH) that safeguard naked nuclear DNAs are protected by a specialized stem-loop instead of polyadenylation. Here, we showed that infection by various RNA viruses (including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) induced aberrant polyadenylation of RDH mRNAs (pARDH) that resulted in inflammation or cellular senescence, based on which we constructed a pARDH inflammation score (pARIS). We further investigated pARIS elevation in various disease conditions, including different types of virus infection, cancer, and cellular senescence. Notably, we found that pARIS was positively correlated with coronavirus disease 2019 severity in specific immune cell types. We also detected a subset of HIV-1 elite controllers characterized by pARDH flipping potentially mediated by HuR. Importantly, pARIS was positively associated with transcription of endogenous retrovirus but negatively associated with most immune cell infiltration in tumors of various cancer types. Finally, we identified and experimentally verified two pARIS regulators, ADAR1 and ZKSCAN1, which was first linked to inflammation. The ZKSCAN1 was known as a transcription factor but instead was shown to regulate pARIS as a novel RNA binding protein. Both regulators were upregulated under most infection and inflammation conditions. In conclusion, we unraveled a potential antiviral mechanism underlying various types of virus infections and cancers.

Automated summary

We revealed an incomplete mechanistic understanding of virus infection and inflammation in many diseases. We found that infection by various RNA viruses can induce aberrant polyadenylation of replication-dependent histone (RDH) mRNA, resulting in inflammation or cellular senescence. We further investigated the elevation of this polyadenylation-induced inflammation score (pARIS) in various disease conditions, including virus infection, cancer, and cellular senescence. We identified and experimentally verified two regulators of pARIS, ADAR1 and ZKSCAN1, which are upregulated under most infection and inflammation conditions, and uncovered a potential antiviral mechanism underlying various types of virus infections and cancers.