Spata2L Suppresses TLR4 Signaling by Promoting CYLD-Mediated Deubiquitination of TRAF6 and TAK1

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Zhenzhen Zhang^1,2#, Shuangyan Zhang^1,2#, Xiaoli Jiang^1,2#, Dandan Wu^1,2, Yaning Du³, and Xiao-Dong Yang^1,2,4,5,a*

¹Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China

²Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China

³Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China

⁴The Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China

⁵Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Immunology Research, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China

^# These authors contributed equally to this work.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received February 2, 2022; Revised July 13, 2022; Accepted August 15, 2022

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Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a key pattern recognition receptor that can be activated by bacterial lipopolysaccharide to elicit inflammatory response. Proper activation of TLR4 is critical for the host defense against microbial infections. Since overactivation of TLR4 causes deleterious effects and inflammatory diseases, its activation needs to be tightly controlled by negative regulatory mechanisms, among which the most pivotal could be deubiquitination of key signaling molecules mediated by deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs). CYLD is a member of the USP family of DUBs that acts as a critical negative regulator of TLR4-depedent inflammatory responses by deconjugating polyubiquitin chains from signaling molecules, such as TRAF6 and TAK1. Dysregulation of CYLD is implicated in inflammatory diseases. However, how the function of CYLD is regulated during inflammatory response remains largely unclear. Recently, we and other authors have shown that Spata2 functions as an important CYLD partner to regulate enzymatic activity of CYLD and substrate binding by this protein. Here, we show that a Spata2-like protein, Spata2L, can also form a complex with CYLD to inhibit the TLR4-dependent inflammatory response. We found that Spata2L constitutively interacts with CYLD and that the deficiency of Spata2L enhances the LPS-induced NF-κB activation and proinflammatory cytokine gene expression. Mechanistically, Spata2L potentiated CYLD-mediated deubiquitination of TRAF6 and TAK1 likely by promoting CYLD enzymatic activity. These findings identify Spata2L as a novel CYLD regulator, provide new insights into regulatory mechanisms underlying CYLD role in TLR4 signaling, and suggest potential targets for modulating TLR4-induced inflammation.

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KEY WORDS: inflammation, TLR4, deubiquitination, CYLD, Spata2L, Spata2

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297922090085

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