Toll-like receptor 3 regulates Zika virus infection and associated host inflammatory response in primary human astrocytes

The connection between Zika virus (ZIKV) and neurodevelopmental defects is widely recognized, although the mechanisms underlying the infectivity and pathology in primary human glial cells are poorly understood. Here we show that three isolated strains of ZIKV, an African strain MR766 (Uganda) and two closely related Asian strains R103451 (Honduras) and PRVABC59 (Puerto Rico) productively infect primary human astrocytes, although Asian strains showed a higher infectivity rate and increased cell death when compared to the African strain. Inhibition of AXL receptor significantly attenuated viral entry of MR766 and PRVABC59 and to a lesser extend R103451, suggesting an important role of TAM receptors in ZIKV cell entry, irrespective of lineage. Infection by PRVABC59 elicited the highest release of inflammatory molecules, with a 8-fold increase in the release of RANTES, 10-fold increase in secretion of IP-10 secretion and a 12-fold increase in IFN-β secretion when compared to un-infected human astrocytes. Minor changes in the release of several growth factors, endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-stress response factors and the transcription factor, NF-κB were detected with the Asian strains, while significant increases in FOXO6, MAPK10 and JNK were detected with the African strain. Activation of the autophagy pathway was evident with increased expression of the autophagy related proteins Beclin1, LC3B and p62/SQSTM1 with all three strains of ZIKV. Pharmacological inhibition of the autophagy pathway and genetic inhibition of the Beclin1 showed minimal effects on ZIKV replication. The expression of toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) was significantly increased with all three strains of ZIKV; pharmacological and genetic inhibition of TLR3 caused a decrease in viral titers and in viral-induced inflammatory response in infected astrocytes. We conclude that TLR3 plays a vital role in both ZIKV replication and viral-induced inflammatory responses, irrespective of the strains, while the autophagy protein Beclin1 influences host inflammatory responses.