A mammalian cell-based screening assay to identify inhibitors of Alphaviruses

The present invention relates to a method to identify compounds, peptides or mutations that affect the virulence of Alphaviruses, in particular Chikungunya virus and related viruses from the Semliki Forest antigenic group and Sindbis virus. Specifically the current method uses differential expression of a reporter gene affected by a transcriptional shutoff mechanism mediated by the expression of a non-structural protein 2 (nsP2) Alphavirus protein, to identify compounds, peptides or mutations which have modulating effects upon the effects of expression of this. Alphaviruses are a group of pathogens responsible for major public health problems. Members of this genus belong to the Togaviridae family and are transmitted by insects, in particular mosquitoes, to higher vertebrates including humans that serve as amplifying hosts (3). In insect vectors, they cause persistent lifelong infections without critically affecting the viability of the hosts. In contrast, vertebrate hosts usually develop an acute infection that often results in several disease symptoms prior to virus clearance by the immune system.

High levels of sequence similarity in the structural and nonstructural genes of all Alphaviruses studied so far strongly suggest that Alphaviruses have a common ancestor (11). However, Alphaviruses from the Old World and the New World have circulated independently for several centuries, and can be distinguished on the basis of their genomic sequences.

Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) viruses are two Alphaviruses from the New World lineage that cause fatal encephalitis in horses. This phylogenic group is also responsible for small outbreaks of encephalitis in humans and therefore represents a threat for human populations of Latin and North America.

Chikungunya virus, was responsible for the recent epidemic in Reunion Island (12), other Old World Alphaviruses from the "Semliki Forest" antigenic complex are responsible for painful arthralgia, polyarthritis, fever and sometimes rash in infected humans. In addition to Chikungunya virus and Semliki Forest virus, the Semliki Forest antigenic complex includes O'Nyong-nyong virus, Ross River virus and Mayaro virus (12). Sindbis virus is also associated with arthralgia, rash and fever, and originates from the Old World, but belongs to a sepa-

rate antigenic complex.

Herein, the term Old World refers to those parts of the Earth known to Europeans, Asians and Africans in the 15th century before the voyages of

Christopher Columbus; it includes Europe, Asia, and Africa (collectively known as Africa-Eurasia), plus surrounding islands. The term is in distinction from the New

World, meaning the Americas and Australasia.

The genome of Alphaviruses is an 11.5-kb, single-stranded RNA of positive polarity that contains a 5' methylguanylate cap and a 3' polyadenylate tail (3). The genome is directly translated into the viral nonstructural proteins nsPl to nsP4, which are encoded by the 5' two-thirds of the genome. These proteins form an enzymatic complex that ensures both the replication of the viral genome and the transcription of a subgenomic mRNA encoding for the structural proteins of the virus. This subgenomic mRNA is synthesized from a promoter located on the RNA anti- genome synthesized during replication. Together with genomic RNA, structural proteins assemble to form the viral particles.

The structural proteins are dispensable for RNA replication, and several Alphavirus genomes lacking structural genes replicate efficiently. This is because replication only relies on the 4 nonstructural proteins nsPl to nsP4. The nonstructural proteins are synthesized as two polyproteins, termed nsP123 and nsP1234. nsP123 is produced when translation terminates at a STOP codon between nsP3 and nsP4, while reading through the STOP codon results in nsP1234. Both precursors are progressively processed into nsPl, nsP2, nsP3 and nsP4 by the protease domain of nsP2.

Negative-sense anti-genome RNA is synthesized early in infection by the nsP123 intermediate along with nsP4 or the nsP23 intermediate along with nsPl and nsP4. Upon further processing by the protease domain of nsP2, the four nonstructural proteins form an enzymatic complex that synthesizes using the RNA anti-genome as a template, both the subgenomic mRNA encoding the structural proteins and the full-length positive-strand RNA genome. nsP2 is an essential component of the replication complex. As previously mentioned this protein contains a protease domain required for the sequential processing of the nonstructural polyprotein. RNA helicase and nucleotide triphosphatase activities have also been reported, and are directly involved in viral

RNA replication (1).

Recently nsP2 from Sindbis virus was also shown to inhibit translation of cellular proteins, and transcription of both cellular mRNA and ribosomal RNAs (4, 5, 7). Inhibition of the antiviral immune response by Semliki Forest virus and Ross River virus has also been investigated. In Semliki Forest virus-infected cells, a significant fraction of the nsP2 protein is transported to the nucleus. A mutant strain of Semliki Forest virus with an nsP2 protein defective for its nuclear translocation

(SFV4-RDR) is attenuated for growth and deeply impaired for its ability to block IFN- β and TNF-α mRNA synthesis (2).

However, inhibition of cellular transcription and translation were equivalent between SFV4-RDR and the parental wild-type strain. Thus, inhibition of virus stress-inducible genes like IFN-β and TNF-α requires a fully functional nsP2 protein, whereas the general transcriptional shutoff tolerates mutations in the nuclear localization signal of nsP2. The transcriptional inhibition of several genes from the antiviral cluster was also reported when RAW264.7 macrophages were infected with

Ross River virus (10).

Interestingly, the nuclear activity of transcription factors not associated with the antiviral response like human Sp-I was not affected by Ross River virus infection. These observations suggest that Ross River virus inhibits cellular transcription in host cells, but this transcriptional shutoff is somehow specific to the antiviral, stress-inducible genes. It has not been demonstrated yet that nsP2 from Ross

River is responsible for this transcriptional shutoff.

Moreover, sub-neutralizing concentrations of anti-Ross River virus antibodies were required to enhance the infection efficiency in these experiments, suggesting that IL-10 expression could also be induced by such immune-complexes, and inhibit antiviral gene expression.

Old World and New World Alphaviruses use different viral proteins to mediate transcriptional shutoff (6) of the host cell. EEE and VEE, two New World Alphaviruses, rely on their capsid to inhibit transcription in infected host cells, while

Semliki Forest and Sindbis virus use nsP2. Altogether, these observations suggest that nsP2-mediated transcriptional shutoff maybe a general property of Old World

Alphaviruses.

Given the great medical, financial and social effects of Alphaviruses, factors which modulate the virulence of these infective agents are of great interest. The inventors have developed a new methodology to identify both external agents such as compounds and peptides which affect aspects of Alphavirus virulence and the inventors new method also allows the identification of internal genetic modifications to the Alphavirus which modulate its virulence.

The invention concerns a method to identify modulators of virulence of an Alphavirus, comprising the steps:

(i) expressing an Alphavirus non-structural protein 2 (nsP2) coding sequence in at least one subject mammalian cell in vitro;

(ii-a) introducing a first reporter gene under the transcriptional control of a non-Alphavirus derived inducible promoter into the at least one subject mammalian cell in vitro;

(iii) monitoring the activity of this first reporter gene in vitro; (iv) comparing said activity of the first reporter gene of step (iii) to at least one control mammalian cell not expressing the nsP2 coding sequence and comprising the first reporter gene under the transcriptional control of a non- Alphavirus derived inducible promoter in vitro.

The inventors therefore provide a new method which uses the inherent properties of the Alphavirus nsP2 gene product, which have been shown to have a direct effect upon Alphavirus virulence; in combination with a reporter gene to measure the effects of various factors upon the transcriptional repression of this reporter gene in comparison to the same reporter gene in the absence of nsP2 expression. The inventors have used a mammalian cell line system to identify modulators of the effects of nsP2 mediated transcriptional repression as such modulators of this in vitro mammalian system would be likely to have a comparable effect in vivo and therefore be potentially useful as medicaments or tools in the further study of these important disease causing viruses. Compounds or peptides which modulate the activity of the nsP2 protein will likely restore the transcription of the antiviral genes required for the clearing of the infection by the host.

In the current Patent Application the term modulate is taken to

comprise any alteration to the measured effect of nsP2 expression upon one or more reporter genes. This modulation may for instance be to decrease or increase the effects of nsP2 expression.In addition, Alphaviruses that carry mutations in the nsP2 protein and thereby have lost their ability to block cell transcription, will be attenuated and represent potential vaccine strains.

Preferably, the Old World Alphavirus for which virulence modulators are being identified is selected from the group consisting of Chikungunya virus, Semliki Forest virus, O'nyong-nyong virus, Sindbis virus, Mayaro virus, Ross River virus. The inventors have shown for the first time in this application, that nsP2 from Chikungunya virus has a similar transcriptional repressive effect to nsP2 from Sindbis virus and Semliki Forest virus; their new observations suggest that nsP2- mediated transcriptional shutoff is a general property of Alphaviruses and therefore that their new method will be applicable to all Alphaviruses. In the current Patent Application the term coding sequence refers to a nucleotide sequence which can be translated into a peptide sequence by the transcriptional mechanisms of a cell or cell free transcription system; or the peptide sequence which results from the translation of a nucleotide sequence. References to the coding sequence can therefore refer to the nucleotide sequence or peptide sequence.

It is known that modifications to a nucleotide coding sequence can result in changes to the peptide sequence this being called a mutation; conversely changes to a nucleotide sequence which do not affect the peptide sequence are called silent mutations or synonymous mutations if these occur within exons. Changes to a peptide sequence will inherently affect the peptide sequence.

Specific mutations of the coding sequence can therefore be made either at the nucleotide or peptide level and can be easily targeted to specific portions of these coding sequences in either case.

Preferably the nsP2 coding sequence is a nucleic acid encoding the Chikungunya virus nsP2 (SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2) or a peptide sequence selected from the group comprising Sindbis virus nsP2 (SEQ ID NO: 4) and Semliki Forest virus nsP2 (SEQ ID NO: 3).

The conversion of a nucleotide sequence into a peptide sequence and

conversely the conversion of a peptide sequence into a nucleotide sequence is well known in the art and forms a part of the present invention and sequences presented as peptide sequences are also implicitly described as nucleotide sequences encoding these, as are peptide sequences encoded by the described nucleotide sequences. Preferably the first reporter gene produces a luminescent signal.

By using a reporter gene which produces a luminescent signal the effects of the various components of the current method can be observed and monitored at fixed time points and over time periods with a single population of cells.

More preferably the first reporter gene is a luciferase. Luciferase is a generic name for enzymes commonly used in nature for bioluminescence. Several dozen commercially available luciferase enzymes exist with many more variants of these being available to meet the specific needs of a particular protocol.

Most preferably the luciferase is derived from Photinus pyralis luciferase.

The North American firefly Photinus pyralis has been used extensively as a reporter in studies of gene expression and therefore is considered by the inventors to be the best available reporter gene for use in the current method.

Preferably the method identifies modulators decreasing the virulence of an Alphavims.

Modulators which decrease the virulence of Alphaviruses have potential use as medicaments in the treatment or alleviation of Alphavirus infection. In addition mutations to the Alphavirus which decrease its virulence would also make such modified Alphavirus particles potentially useful as attenuated viral vaccine candidates, and/or as model systems for their further study.

Modulators which decrease the virulence of the Alphavirus would be expected to increase the level of reporter gene activity relative to a control.

In the current application, a control or control experiment means any data set derived from an identical set of conditions as an experiment according to the method of the present application but lacking one or more components of experiment so allowing the effects of these components to be determined.

Alternatively the method identifies modulators increasing the virulence of an Alphavirus.

Modulators which increase the virulence of the Alphavirus are of potential interest as these may for instance give insights into one or more aspects of the virulence causing effects of the Alphavirus so allowing further study into new ways to treat such Alphavirus infections. Preferably the method further comprises the expression of a second reporter gene under the control of a promoter unaffected by expression of said nsP2 coding sequence in said at least one subject mammalian cell in vitro.

The inventors provide a way of normalizing the efficiency of transfection of the various components of the current invention. By doing so it is possible to more accurately ascertain the effects of variable transfection rates and so more accurately interpret the activity of the first reporter gene and the effects of nsP2 expression thereon and the modulation which may be occurring.

By using a promoter which is not affected by expression of the nsP2 coding sequence, the effect of nsP2 expression can be removed and the transfection rate calculated more accurately as a result.

Preferably the promoter unaffected by expression of said nsP2 coding sequence is a viral promoter.

The inventors have found that viral promoters or elements thereof, appear to be less affected by expression of the nsP2 coding sequence than other promoter elements and therefore such viral promoters are suitable for use in expressing of a reporter gene of the transfection control.

In particular the viral promoter may be derived from the promoter of the Herpes Simplex Virus thymidine kinase gene.

The inventors have experimentally shown in the current application that the Herpes Simplex Virus thymidine kinase gene promoter was not significantly affected by nsP2 expression and therefore is suitable for use in the transfection control.

In the current application derived from, means any nucleic acid or protein sequence is created from an original sequence and then modified so as to retain its original functionality but have residue changes and/or additions or deletions relative to the original sequence.

Preferably the first reporter gene and the second reporter gene encode different products.

By using different reporter genes the activity of each of these can more easily be ascertained and so used to increase the usefulness of the current invention.

Most preferably the second reporter gene is derived from the Renilla reniformis luciferase gene.

The soft coral Renilla reniformis luciferase enzyme is a monomeric soluble intracellular protein that is used increasingly as a marker of gene expression, its luminescent output differs from that of Photinus pyralis luciferase and so is suitable for use as a transfection control in the current invention. The present invention provides another method to identify modulators of virulence of an Alphavirus, wherein the nsP2 coding sequence comprises at least one alteration, deletion or addition mutation in comparison to a reference nucleotide sequence selected from the group: SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID: 2 or a reference peptide sequence selected from the group: SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4.

The inventors therefore also provide the means to investigate the effects upon the virulence of an Alphavirus of alterations in the nsP2 coding sequence by way of least one alteration, deletion or addition mutation in comparison to a reference sequence for nsP2, which in accordance with this aspect of the present invention is a nucleotide sequence encoding the Chikungunya virus nsP2 (SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID: 2), or a peptide sequence selected in the group consisting of the Sindbis virus nsP2 (SEQ ID NO: 4) or Semliki Forest virus nsP2 (SEQ ID NO: 3).

In the present invention wild type means the most common phenotype (peptide sequence) or genotype (nucleotide sequence) in the natural population.

Preferably the method comprises the analysis of a library of nsP2 coding sequences all having at least one alteration, deletion or addition mutation in comparison to a nucleotide reference sequence selected from the group: SEQ ID NO:

1, SEQ ID: 2, or a peptide reference sequence selected from the group SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4.

The inventors also provide a method to investigate the effects upon the virulence of an Old World Alphavirus by studying a library of nsP2 mutants.

Preferably the library of nsP2 coding sequences result from a

rational mutation strategy.

The inventors also provide a method of screening a library of rationally mutagenised nsP2 mutants. Recent advances in enzyme/protein engineering have used a combination of the random methods of directed evolution with elements of rational enzyme/protein modification to successfully by-pass certain limitations of both directed evolution and rational design. Semi-rational approaches that target multiple, specific residues to mutate on the basis of prior structural or functional knowledge create 'smart' libraries that are more likely to yield positive results.

Preferably the library of nsP2 coding sequences comprise mutations outside the protease domain.

Preferably the library of nsP2 coding sequences comprise mutations within the amino-terminal of said nsP2 coding sequence.

Preferably the method comprises a further step of:

(v) comparing said activity of the first reporter gene of step (iii) to a further at least one control mammalian cell expressing a wild type nsP2 coding sequence and comprising the first reporter gene under the transcriptional control of the inducible promoter.

The inventors therefore provide a method in which the effects of a mutagenised nsP2 coding sequence(s) upon the activity of a reporter gene are compared to the effects of a wild type nsP2 gene.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the current method, the inducible promoter comprises at least one virus induced stress response activated promoter element.

In the current application a virus induced stress response activated promoter element, refers to any genomic element which is transcriptionally activated in response to viral infection of its host cell.

The inventors have found that the nsP2 gene product can have a differential effect upon the transcriptional repression of genes associated with combating a viral infection and non-viral related gene transcription. By providing a reporter gene construction under the transcriptional control of at least one virus induced stress response activated promoter element these differential effects can be examined separately and therefore in more detail, allowing the identification of compounds and/or mutations which affect one or other type of transcription

differently.

Preferably the at least one virus induced stress response promoter element is activated by at least one antiviral protein.

A number of proteins are known to be directly involved in a mammalian cell/mammals reaction to viral infection, these antiviral proteins in turn are also known to have a direct transcriptional effect upon certain other genes. Therefore the inventors provide a reporter gene under the control of such an element which is responsive to such an antiviral protein so allowing the specific investigation of modulators of nsP2s effect upon these important pathways. Preferably the at least one antiviral protein is selected from the group comprising Interferon (IFN) type proteins and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) type proteins.

Interferons (IFNs) and Tumour Necrosis Factors (TNF) are natural proteins produced by the cells of the immune system of most vertebrates in response to challenges by foreign agents such as viruses, bacteria, parasites and tumor cells.

Interferons belong to a large class of glycoproteins known as cytokines. Interferons assist the immune response by inhibiting viral replication within other cells of the body. Tumor necrosis factors (or the TNF-family) refers to a group of cytokine families which can cause apoptosis. Both these families of molecules play crucial roles in the fighting of viral infections in mammalian cells and therefore further information concerning indirect modulators of there activity are likely to be very useful as medicaments and/or as research tools.

Most preferably the at least one antiviral protein is IFN-β.

The role and effects of IFN- β in mammalian cells during viral infections are well known and as indicated above information concerning indirect modulators of there activity are likely to be very useful as medicaments and/or as research tools, meaning this is an ideal element of the current method.

Preferably the method comprises before step (iii), the further steps of: (ii-b) exposing at least one antiviral protein to the at least one subject mammalian cell; and

(v) comparing the activity of said first reporter gene of step (iii) to a further at least one control mammalian cell not exposed to the at least antiviral protein

and comprising the first reporter gene under the transcriptional control of said inducible promoter.

The inventors therefore provide a method in which the effects of expression of a nsP2 coding sequence(s) upon the activity of a reporter gene under the control of at least one virus induced stress response activated promoter element exposed to an antiviral protein are compared to the effects upon one where the antiviral protein is not present.

In another embodiment of the present invention the inducible promoter comprises at least one transcription factor activated promoter element. The inventors have found that the nsP2 gene product can have a differential effect upon the transcriptional repression of genes associated with combating a viral infection and normal gene transcription mediated by a transcription factor. By providing a reporter gene construct under the transcriptional control of at least one transcription factor activated promoter element, these differential effects can be examined separately and therefore in more detail.

In the present application a transcription factor activated promoter element, means any genomic element which is transcriptionally activated by its interaction with a transcription factor.

Preferably the at least one transcription factor activated promoter element comprises at least one DNA sequence binding target motif of the GAL4 transcription factor.

The DNA binding domain and characteristics of the GAL4 protein from Saccharomyces cerevisiae are extremely well known and have been characterised to an extraordinary degree. Methods using this information are wide spread, in particular the 'Two Hybrid' assay. Therefore the DNA sequence binding target motifs of the GAL4 protein in combination with the GAL4 DNA binding domain allow the implementation of a method according to the current invention.

Preferably the method comprises before step (iii), the further steps of: (ii-a) expressing at least one hybrid protein comprising the GAL4

DNA binding domain fused to the transcription activation domain of at least one transcription factor, under the control of a promoter in the at least one subject mammalian cell; and

(v) comparing the activity of the first reporter gene of step (iii) to a further at least one control mammalian cell not expressing the at least one hybrid protein and comprising the first reporter gene under the transcriptional control of the inducible promoter. An important feature of most eukaryotic transcription factors, is that the activating and binding domains are modular and can function in close proximity to each other without direct binding. This means that even though the transcription factor is split into two fragments, it can still activate transcription when the two fragments are indirectly connected. The important consequence of this in respect to current invention is that the GAL4 DNA binding domain can be fused to the transcription activation domain of a general Mammalian transcription factor and that this will lead to a hybrid protein with the combined properties of affinity for the GAL4 DNA binding target motifs and also the transcriptional . activation of any gene associated with the GAL4 DNA binding target motifs. Preferably at least one transcription factor is selected from the group comprising Jun, Fos and SMAD3.

Jun, Fos and SMAD3 are well known general mammalian transcriptional factors, which have been shown to affect overall transcription levels in mammalian cells. Therefore by providing hybrid proteins comprising fusions of the transcriptional activation domains of these proteins with the GAL4 DNA binding domain, the activity of a reporter gene associated with GAL4 DNA binding target motifs can be monitored and alterations in this used to determine overall changes in the transcription levels of a mammalian cell.

The present invention also provides a method to identify modulators of virulence of an Alphavirus comprising the further steps further steps of:

(ii-a) exposing at least one candidate molecule to the at least one subject mammalian cell; and

(v) comparing the activity of the first reporter gene of step (iii) to a further at least one control mammalian cell not exposed to the at least one candidate molecule and comprising the first reporter gene under the transcriptional control of said inducible promoter.

The inventors therefore provide a method of screening candidate modulator molecules using their new method.

Preferably the method involves the analysis of a library of candidate molecules.

The inventors also provide a method of screening a library of candidate modulator molecules using their new method. Preferably the at least candidate molecule is selected from the group comprising peptides, glyco-peptides, lipo-peptides, pharmaceutically active compounds, carbohydrates, combinations and derivatives thereof.

In the present invention pharmaceutically active compounds, are defined as any chemical substance which can have a measurable effect upon the human or mammalian body when in a healthy or diseased state.

The inventors consider it possible to use any combination of the cis- or trans- reporter gene based transcriptional assays described herein to screen for mutations, compounds and/or peptides which affect the activity of nsP2 and the virulence of Alphaviruses. There is also provided a kit of reagents to perform any one of the methods defined herein, comprising: a first nucleic acid construct configured to express the nsP2 coding sequence in at least one subject mammalian cell, wherein this first nucleic acid construct comprises an nsP2 coding sequence under the transcriptional control of a promoter sequence; a second nucleic acid construct configured to express the first reporter gene in at least one subject mammalian cell and at least one control mammalian cell, wherein this second nucleic acid construct comprises the coding sequence of a first reporter gene under the transcriptional control of an inducible promoter sequence; reagents to introduce the first nucleic acid construct into at least one subject mammalian cell; reagents to introduce the second nucleic acid constructs into at least one subject mammalian cell and at least one control mammalian cell; reagents to monitor the activity of the first reporter gene; instructions to perform the method.

The inventors therefore provide a kit of materials with which to perform a method according to the current invention

Preferably the kit of reagents further comprises: a nucleic acid construct configured to express a second reporter gene in at least one subject mammalian cell and at least one control mammalian cell, wherein the nucleic acid construct comprises the coding sequence of a second reporter gene under the transcriptional control of a promoter unaffected by expression of the nsP2 coding sequence.

Preferably the nsP2 coding sequence comprises at least one alteration, deletion or addition mutation in comparison to a reference nucleotide sequence SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2, or a reference peptide sequence SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4; and the kit further comprises: a nucleic acid construct configured to express a wild type nsP2 coding sequence in a further at least one control mammalian cell, wherein this nucleic acid construct comprises the coding sequence of a wild type nsP2 coding sequence under the transcriptional control of a promoter sequence. Preferably the inducible promoter sequence comprises at least one virus induced stress response activated promoter element.

Preferably the kit further comprises: at least one antiviral protein reagent which is configured to activate the at least one virus induced stress response promoter element. Alternatively inducible promoter sequence comprises at least one transcription factor activated promoter element.

Preferably the at least one transcription factor activated promoter element comprises at least one DNA sequence binding target motif of the GAL4 transcription factor. Preferably the kit further comprises: a nucleic acid construct configured to express a hybrid protein coding sequence in the at least one subject mammalian cell, wherein this nucleic acid construct comprises the coding sequence of the GAL4 DNA binding domain fused to the transcription activation domain of at least one transcription factor, under the control of a promoter.

There is also provided a composition comprising isolated, natural or synthetic nsP2 or an active fragment thereof, for the modulation of an existing immunological response, wherein the nsP2 nucleotide coding sequence or the nsP2

peptide sequence is selected from the group comprising Sindbis virus nsP2 (peptide) (SEQ ID No: 4), Semliki Forest virus nsP2 (peptide) (SEQ ID NO: 3) and Chikungunya virus nsP2 (nucleotide) (SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2). The nsP2 being in an administrable form with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers or excipients.

There is also provided the use of an effective amount of a composition comprising nsP2, wherein said nsP2 peptide sequence is selected from the group comprising Sindbis virus nsP2 (SEQ ID No: 4), Semliki Forest virus nsP2

(SEQ ID NO: 3) or a peptide encoded by a nucleotide coding sequence selected from the group comprising Chikungunya virus nsP2 (SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2), and one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers or excipients, for the preparation of a medicament for modulating an existing immunological response in a subject in need thereof.

The inventors also provide a composition comprising nsP2 and/or the use of nsP2 in the preparation of such a composition for the modulation of an immunological response in an individual. Given the effects of nsP2 described in the current application, upon both anti- viral specific and more general transcription levels, such nsP2 based compositions provide a means to modulate the immunological response of an individual by exposing this individual to compositions comprising this substance

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, there will now be shown by way of example only, specific embodiments, methods and processes according to the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 : Panel A, shows the effects of nsP2 protein expression from

Chikungunya virus upon the expression of a luciferase gene under the control of an Interferon-Stimulated Response Elements (ISRE) cis-regulatory element in the presence and absence of IFN-β.

Panel B shows the effects of nsP2 protein expression from Chikungunya virus upon the expression of a luciferase gene under the control of an GAL4-DB cis-regulatory element in the presence and absence of GAL4-Jun.

Panel C shows the effects of nsP2 protein expression from Chikungunya virus upon the expression of a luciferase gene under the control of an

GAL4-DB cis-regulatory element in the presence and absence of GAL4-Fos.

Panel D shows the effects of nsP2 protein expression from Chikungunya virus upon the expression of a luciferase gene under the control of an GAL4-DB cis-regulatory element in the presence and absence of GAL4-SMAD3. Figure 2: shows the effects of nsP2 protein expression from

Chikungunya virus (nsP2-Chik), Semliki Forest virus (nsP2-SFV) and Sindbis virus (nsP2-sindbis) upon the expression of a luciferase gene under the control of an Interferon-Stimulated Response Elements (ISRE) cis-regulatory element in the presence and absence of IFN-β. Figure 3 : Panel A, shows the effects of nsP2 protein expression from

Chikungunya virus upon the expression of a luciferase gene under the control of an the NFKB consensus sequence cis-regulatory element in the presence and absence of TNF-alpha (Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha).

Panel B shows the effects of nsP2 protein expression from Chikungunya virus upon the expression of a luciferase gene under the control of an NFKB consensus sequence cis-regulatory element in the presence and absence of TRAF2 (TNF receptor-associated factor 2).

Figure 4: Description of five fragments and one mutant of nsP2 from CHIKV that have been cloned in pDONR207 vector. Numbers indicate amino acid positions.

Figure 5: shows the Activity of the NF-κB-luciferase reporter plasmid in HEK-293T cells expressing full-length nsP2, fragments of nsP2 or nsP2 mutant K649D. Results presented correspond to unstimulated cells (black boxes) or cells stimulated with TNF-α (grey boxes). Figure 6: shows the activity of different compounds on nsP2.

Results represent characteristic data obtained with one 96- well plate.

There will now be described by way of example a specific mode contemplated by the Inventors. In the following description numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding. It will be apparent however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without limitation to these specific details. In other instances, well known methods and structures have not been described so as not to unnecessarily obscure the description.

EXAMPLE 1: Materials and Methods

According to a first specific example of the current invention, there is provided a screening method based on the expression, in mammalian cell lines, of a recombinant nsP2 protein (SEQ ID NO: 2) from Chikungunya virus. The expression of this protein inhibits the expression of a luciferase reporter gene driven by natural or synthetic hybrid transcription factors. Small molecules, peptides or nsP2 (SEQ ID NO: 2) mutations that restore the expression of the luciferase reporter gene represent different means to impair the transcriptional shutoff mediated by nsP2 from Chikungunya virus and related Alphaviruses, including members of the Semliki Forest antigenic complex and Sindbis virus.

The objective of the present screening method is to identify compounds, peptides or mutations that affect the virulence of Alphaviruses by targeting the transcriptional shutoff mediated by the nsP2 Alphavirus protein. To achieve this goal, the nsP2 protein from Chikungunya virus was cloned in a mammalian expression vector.

This DNA construct was co-transfected with a commercial reporter plasmid where the luciferase reporter gene is under control of Interferon-Stimulated Response Elements (ISRE). Although IFN-β efficiently induced luciferase expression, it was strongly inhibited by the addition of nsP2 protein from Chikungunya virus. Mammalian cells were also transfected with a luciferase reporter construct containing, in its promoter, binding sites for the DNA-binding domain of GAL4 transcription factor (GAL4-DB). Hybrid transcription factors, composed of GAL4-DB fused to the transcription activation domains of Jun, Fos or SMAD3, induced luciferase expression. But co-expression with nsP2 from Chikungunya virus completely blocked this transcriptional activity. Such minimal in vitro systems are highly tractable, and suitable to achieve the screening of molecule libraries (protein- encoding cDNAs, chemical compounds) in a high-throughput setting as previously demonstrated (8, 9, 14-16). This system also provides a convenient method to screen nsP2 mutants, and identify those that fail to inhibit transcription. nsP2 expression plasmids

From Chikungunya virus

The nsP2 encoding sequence from Chikungunya virus (isolate 05- 115 from La Reunion Island) (13) was cloned by RT-PCR following manufacturer's

recommendations (Titan One tube RT-PCR kit, ROCHE Boerhinger). The following nsP2-specifϊc primers were used for the reverse transcription and amplification steps: attBl-nsP2-For fSEQ ID NO: 4):

5 ' -ggggacaactttgtacaaaaaagttggcatgGGAATAATAGAGACTCCGAGAGGAG-3 ' attB2-nsP2-Rev TSEO ID NO: 5):

5 '-ggggacaactttgtacaagaaagttggttaACATCCTGCTCGGGTGGC-3 '

This PCR product was cloned with the Gateway ^® recombination system (Invitrogen), primers were flanked by attBl and attB2 Gateway ^® recombination sequences (lower case on the primer sequences). The RT-PCR product corresponding to nsP2 was introduced by in vitro recombination in pDONR™207 (Gateway ^® system; Invitrogen) following manufacturer's recommendations. After selection of bacterial transformants on gentamicin-supplemented LB plate, isolated clones were picked and the nsP2 sequence was established by sequencing. The sequence of the nsP2 clone used in this example almost matched the corresponding GenBank entry (AM258990, referred to as SEQ ID NO:1 herein). The sequence of the nsP2 clone used in this example (SEQ ID NO: 2) differed from SEQ ID NO: 1 by two nucleotide substitutions: one at position 26 (C to T; A9V mutation), and one at position 2378 (T to C; V739A) introduced by the attB2-nsP2- Rev primer (SEQ ID NO: 5) .

The nsP2 encoding sequence was recombined into a mammalian expression vector compatible with the Gateway ^® system, and expressed as a fusion protein with the GST or the 3xFLAG tag (Sigma- Aldrich) at their N-termini.

Mammalian expression was achieved using the pDEST27 vector for the GST fusion (Invitrogen), or a modified version of the pCI-neo plasmid (Promega) for the 3xFLAG tag. This later plasmid was built by introduction of the Gateway ^® cassette (Gateway conversion system; Invitrogen) at the Smal restriction site first, and subsequent introduction of the 3xFLAG-encoding sequence at the Xhol site. From Sindbis and Semliki Forest virus The nsP2 encoding sequence from Sindbis virus (Genbank ID:

AAA96975) was cloned by PCR using pTOTOHOl plasmid (Rice CM., Journal of Virology, Dec. 1987 p3809-3819) as a template and the following nsP2-specific primers:

attBl-nsP2sindbis-For CSEQ ID NO: 11):

5 '- ggggacaactttgtacaaaaaagttggcatgGCATTAGTTGAAACCCCG-3 ' attB2-nsP2sindbis-Rev (SEQ ID NO: 12):

5'- ggggacaactttgtacaagaaagttggttaGGCTCC AACTCC ATCTCT-3 ' The nsP2 encoding sequence from Semliki Forest virus (SFV) was cloned by PCR using plasmid (pSFVl, Invitrogen) as a template and the following nsP2-specific primers: attBl-nsP2SFV-For CSEQ ID NO: 13):

5 ' - ggggacaactttgtacaaaaaagttggcatgGGGGTCGTGGAAAC ACCT-3 ' attB2-nsP2SFV-Rev TSEO ID NO: 14):

5'- ggggacaactttgtacaagaaagttggttaACACCCGGCCGTGTGCAT-3 '

To clone these PCR products with the Gateway ^® recombination system (Invitrogen), primers were flanked by attBl and attB2 Gateway ^® recombination sequences (lower case on the primer sequences). The PCR products corresponding to nsP2 from Semliki Forest virus and Sindbis virus were introduced by in vitro recombination in pDONR™207 (Gateway ^® system; Invitrogen) following manufacturer's recommendations. After selection of bacterial transformants on gentamicin-supplemented LB plate, isolated clones were picked and nsP2 sequence was established. The sequence of the nsP2 clones used in this study matched the corresponding GenBank entries.

Cis- and Trans-reporter constructs

The pISRE-Luc Cis-Reporter plasmid was purchased from

Stratagene. In this plasmid, the Photinus pyralis (firefly) luciferase gene is controlled by a synthetic promoter that contains direct repeats of the interferon-stimulated response element (ISRE). This response element is activated by stimulation of the cells with IFN-α or IFN-β.

The pNF-KB-luc CIS-reporter plasmid was purchased from

Stratagene. pNFκB-Luc is designed to monitor the activation of NFKB signal transduction pathway. pNFκB-Luc contains the firefly luciferase Quo) gene from

Photinus pyralis . This vector also contains multiple copies of the NFKB consensus sequence fused to a TATA-like promoter (PTAL) region from the Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) promoter. After endogenous NFKB proteins bind to the

kappa (K) enhancer element (κB ₄ ), transcription is induced and the reporter gene is activated.

The luciferase coding sequence is followed by the SV40 late polyadenylation signal to ensure proper, efficient processing of the luc transcript in eukaryotic cells. Located upstream of NFKB is a synthetic transcription blocker (TB), which is composed of adjacent polyadenylation and transcription pause sites for reducing background transcription.

The DNA fragment encoding the transactivation domains of Jun

(AA 1-223) SEQ ID NO: 7, Fos (AA 208-314) SEQ ID NO: 8 or SMAD3 (AA 156- 425) SEQ ID NO: 9 were cloned by in vitro recombination in pDONR™207

(Invitrogen) using the Gateway ^® system. These transactivation domains were subsequently introduced by recombination in a modified version of the pM vector

(Clontech) made Gateway ^® compatible inserting the Gateway ^® cassette at the Smal restriction site. Thereby, each transactivation domain could be expressed in mammalian cells as fusion proteins with the DNA binding domain of GAL4 (GAL4-

DB) at their N-termini.

The DNA fragment encoding human TRAF2 (Genbank ID:

NP_066961) was cloned by in vitro recombination in pDONR™207 (Invitrogen) using the Gateway ^® system. Like nsP2, this TRAF2 encoding sequence subsequently introduced by recombination in our modified Gateway-compatible 3x-FLAG vector to achieve expression in mammalian cells.

To measure the transactivation mediated by those constructs, the inventors used a reporter plasmid — pGAL4-UAS-Luc — containing the luciferase gene downstream of a promoter with GaI-DB binding sites (GAL4-UAS). The pGAL4-UAS-Luc vector is a modified version of the pGL3 vector (Promega) obtained by insertion at the Smal site of a minimal promoter including five copies of the GAL4-UAS (underlined) and a TATA box (italicized).

Nucleotide sequence of pGAL4-UAS-Luc minimal promoter:

GGGGAT-fCCGCTCGGAGGACAGTACTVCCGATCCGTCGACTCTAGAGG GWTMT^TGCGCCAGCTCGAATT (SEQ ID NO: 10)

The pRL-TK vector (Promega) was used as a reference reporter plasmid to normalize the efficiency of the transfection in all the experiments described below. This vector contains the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK)

promoter just upstream of the Renilla luciferase gene. Inhibition of this reporter construct by the nsP2 protein of Chikungunya virus was tested, and was found to be non-significant.

Cells Human embryonic kidney cells 293T (HEK-293T; ATCC) were maintained in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM; Gibco-Invitrogen) containing 10% fetal bovine serum, penicillin, and streptomycin at 37 ⁰ C and 5% CO2. Transfection was performed with Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen) according to manufacturer's recommendation. ISRE cis-reporter gene assay results

HEK-293T cells were plated in 24-well plates (2x10 ⁵ per well). One day later, cells were transfected with the pISRE-Luc reporter plasmid (0,3 μg/well), the pRL-TK reference plasmid (0.03 μg/well), and the 3xFLAG-nsP2 construct or the corresponding empty vector (0,3 μg/well). After 24 h, IFN-β (Biosource) was added to the medium at 1000 IU/ml, and the cells were incubated for 24 h. The cells were lysed, and the firefly luciferase and Renilla luciferase activities in the lysate were measured using the Dual-luciferase Reporter Assay System (Promega) following manufacturer's recommendation. Reporter activity was calculated as the ratio of firefly luciferase activity to reference Renilla luciferase activity. As shown in Fig. IA, nsP2 from Chikungunya virus strongly inhibited the expression of the IFN-β-induced ISRE-luciferase reporter gene. As shown in Fig. 2, nsP2 from Semliki Forest and Sindbis virus inhibited the expression of the IFN-β-induced ISRE-luciferase reporter gene.

Thus, this system can be used to screen compound libraries, peptides or nsP2 mutants, and identify those that restore cellular response to type I interferons for a least three alphaviruses: Chikungunya virus, Semliki Forest virus and Sindbis virus.

Experiments were performed in triplicates, and data represent means ± SD. Reporter activity is expressed as the ratio of firefly to Renilla luciferase activities.

HEK-293T cells were plated in 24-well plates (2x10 ⁵ per well). One day later, cells were transfected with the pNF-kB-Luc reporter plasmid (0,3 μg/well), the pRL-TK reference plasmid (0.03 μg/well), and the 3xFLAG-nsP2 construct or the

corresponding empty vector (0,3 μg/well). After 24 h, TNF-α (R&D Systems) was added to the medium at 10 ng/ml, and the cells were incubated for 24 h. The cells were lysed, and the firefly luciferase and Renilla luciferase activities in the lysate were measured using the Dual-luciferase Reporter Assay System (Promega) following manufacturer's recommendation. Reporter activity was calculated as the ratio of firefly luciferase activity to reference Renilla luciferase activity. As shown in Fig. 3A, nsP2 from Chikungunya virus strongly inhibited the expression of the TNF-α-induced NF-kB-luciferase reporter gene. Thus, this system can be used to screen compound libraries, peptides or nsP2 mutants, and identify those that restore cellular response to TNF-α. Because TRAF2 is a key component of the TNF-α signalling pathway that activates NF-kB transcription factor, the ability of nsP2 from Chikungunya virus to block TRAF2-induced NF-kB-luciferase reporter gene was tested. HEK-293T cells were plated in 24-well plates (2x10 ⁵ per well). One day later, cells were transfected with the pNF-kB-Luc reporter plasmid (0,3 μg/well), the pRL-TK reference plasmid (0.03 μg/well), the 3xFLAG-TRAF2 plasmid, and the 3xFLAG-nsP2 construct or the corresponding empty vector (0,3 μg/well). After 48 h, the firefly to Renilla luciferase activities were determined as described. As shown in Fig. 3B, nsP2 from Chikungunya virus strongly inhibited the expression of the TRAF2-induced NF-kB- luciferase reporter gene. Thus, nsP2 from Chikungunya virus inhibits some key step of the TNF-α signaling pathway downstream of the TRAF2 element.

Jun, Fos and SMAD3 trans-reporter gene assays results HEK-293T cell s were plated in 24-well plates (2x10 ⁵ per well). One day later, cells were transfected with the pGAL4-UAS-Luc reporter plasmid (0,3 μg/well), the pRL-TK reference plasmid (0.03 μg/well), specified nsP2-encoding plasmids or the corresponding empty vector (0,3 μg/well), and pM vectors encoding GAL4-DB fused to the transactivation domain of either Jun SEQ ID NO: 7, Fos SEQ ID NO: 8 or SMAD3 SEQ ID NO: 9. As shown in Fig IB, GAL4-DB-Jun transactivated the expression of the luciferase reporter gene, and this activity was strongly inhibited by the nsP2 protein of Chikungunya virus. Similar results were obtained when GAL4-DB-Fos or GAL4-DB-SMAD3 were the transactivating factors (Fig. 1C and ID). This system can be used to screen compound libraries, peptides or nsP2 mutants, and identify those that restore cellular response to subsequent to the activation of Jun, Fos or SMAD3.

Experiments were performed in triplicates, and data represent means ± SD. Reporter activity is expressed as the ratio of firefly to Renilla luciferase activities.

Ability of nsP2 variants and fragments to block NF-kB transcription

In order to test whether fragments and/or a mutant of nsP2 from

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) have the ability to block transcription by cellular NF-

KB, fragments of nsP2 protein from CHIKV (isolate 05-115 from La Reunion Island;

SEQ ID NO: 1) were cloned by in vitro recombination into the pDONR207 vector as described above. Cloned fragments are shown in Figure 4 and Table 1.

Table 1. Summary of nsP2 fragments and mutants

The putative nuclear localization signal (NLS) of nsP2 from CHIKV was mutated by the introduction of a K-to-D substitution at position 649. The nsP2 fragments and mutant were expressed as fusion proteins with a N-terminal 3xFLAG tag (Sigma-Aldrich).

The nsP2 fragments and mutant were tested for their ability to block TNF- induced NF-κB activity. HEK-293T cells were plated in 24-well plates (2x10 ⁵ per well). One day later, cells were transfected with pNF-κB-Luc reporter plasmid (Stratagene, 0,3 μg/well), pRL-TK reference plasmid (Promega, 0.03 μg/well), and the

3xFLAG-tagged constructs or the corresponding empty vector (0,3 μg/well).

After 24h, TNF-α (R&D Systems) was added to the medium at 50 ng/ml, and

cells were incubated for another 24h. After cell lysis, firefly luciferase and Renilla luciferase activities were determined using the Dual-luciferase Reporter Assay System (Promega) following manufacturer's recommendations. Reporter activity was calculated as the ratio of firefly luciferase activity to reference Renilla luciferase activity.

As shown in Fig. 5, full length nsP2 from Chikungunya virus strongly inhibited the expression of TNF-induced NF-κB-luciferase reporter gene. In contrast, none of the nsP2 fragments tested impaired NF-κB activity and some of them even enhanced the expression of the reporter construct. nsP2 mutant K649D was also unable to block NF-κB activity, thereby demonstrating that nsP2 nuclear localization signal is required for nsP2 -mediated transcriptional inhibition. These results show that our screening system can be effective to identify mutations of interest in the rational design of alphavirus attenuated strains.

Screening of compound libraries for nsP2 modulators The transcriptional inhibitory effect of nsP2 upon the NF-κB- luciferase reporter gene system described herein, have used this to identify small molecules that inhibit the nsP2-mediated transcriptional shut-off and could therefore be active against Chikigunya Virus and Alphaviruses in general.

This screen was performed upon five chemical compound libraries were tested: Prestwick Chemical (1120 molecules), ChemDiv kinase inhibitors (9360 molecules), NECAN nucleoside analogs library (4880 molecules), Institut Pasteur chemical compound library (400 molecules), ICSN chemical compound library (3,040 molecules).

Compounds were diluted at 2 mg/ml in DMSO. Then, 1 μl of each compound was deposited in 96-well culture plates (white polystyrene, Greiner 655 083). These molecules were tested for their ability to counteract the effects of nsP2 on Fos transcriptional activity. Human HEK-293T cells (from ATCC) were transfected in bulk with pGal4-UAS-Luc reporter plasmid, pM-Fos vector encoding Gal4-DB fused to Fos and 3xFLAG-tagged full length nsP2 (SEQ ID NO: 15). For each well of a 96-well plate, 75 ng of each plasmid were diluted in 8.5 μl of DMEM (Gibco-Invitrogen). In parallel, 0.7 μg of poly(ethyleneimine) from Sigma-Aldrich (PEI) were diluted in 8.5 μl of DMEM (Gibco-BRL). Plasmid suspension and PEI were mixed together and incubated for 30 min at room

temperature. This mix was added to a suspension of 2.5x10 ⁴ cells in 83 μl of DMEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum, penicillin, and streptomycin. This 100 μl suspension of transfected cells was deposited in each well containing a chemical compound. Cells were cultured for 24h at 37°C and 5% CO2. Finally, 50 μl of Bright- GIo solution (Promega) were added to each well, and luminescence was measured using a luminescence reader (Safire2, TECAN).

The first column of each 96-well plate corresponded to cells transfected as described above but treated with DMSO alone, allowing the inventors to determine a background level of luciferase activity. The last column is a positive control and corresponds to cells transfected with pGal4-UAS-Luc, pM-Fos, and a 3xFLAG-tag empty vectors in the presence of DMSO alone. Background signal is removed from the raw data and results are expressed as an inhibition of nsP2 activity. Characteristic results obtained with one representative plate are shown in Fig. 6. Results of the screens performed on 18,800 compounds are summarized in Table 2. These results demonstrate that the screening system based upon the transcriptional inhibition of NF-kB by nsP2 can be used to identify small molecules that significantly alter nsP2 activity and hence are putative alphavirus medicaments.

Table 2: Summary of the results obtained by screening five chemical compound libraries representing a total of 18,800 molecules.

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