Perturbation of ubiquitin homeostasis promotes macrophage oxidative defenses

Abstract

Innate immune responses rely on specific pattern recognition receptors that induce downstream signaling cascades and promote inflammatory responses. Emerging evidence suggests that cells may also recognize alterations in cellular processes induced by infection. Protein ubiquitination is a post-translational modification essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis, and infection can cause global alterations in the host ubiquitin proteome. Here we used a chemical biology approach to perturb the cellular ubiquitin proteome as a simplified model to study the direct effect of ubiquitin homeostasis on macrophage responses. We show that perturbation of ubiquitin homeostasis results in a rapid and transient burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that promotes macrophage anti-infective capacity. ROS production was dependent on the activity of the phagocyte NADPH oxidase NOX2 and was associated with an increase in intracellular calcium. Our findings suggest that major changes in the host ubiquitin landscape may be a potent signal to rapidly deploy innate immune defenses.