β-arrestin 2 as an activator of cGAS-STING signaling and target of viral immune evasion

Virus infection may induce excessive interferon (IFN) responses that can lead to host tissue injury or even death. β-arrestin 2 regulates multiple cellular events through the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling pathways. Here we demonstrate that β-arrestin 2 also promotes virus-induced production of IFN-β and clearance of viruses in macrophages. β-arrestin 2 interacts with cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) and increases the binding of dsDNA to cGAS to enhance cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP) production and the downstreatm stimulator of interferon genes (STING) and innate immune responses. Mechanistically, deacetylation of β-arrestin 2 at Lys171 facilitates the activation of the cGAS–STING signaling and the production of IFN-β. In vitro, viral infection induces the degradation of β-arrestin 2 to facilitate immune evasion, while a β-blocker, carvedilol, rescues β-arrestin 2 expression to maintain the antiviral immune response. Our results thus identify a viral immune-evasion pathway via the degradation of β-arrestin 2, and also hint that carvedilol, approved for treating heart failure, can potentially be repurposed as an antiviral drug candidate. Wild-type and Arrb2-/- peritoneal macrophages treated for 16 h with HSV-1 before they were lysed with RNAiso Plus according to the manufacturers’ instructions. The lysates were sent to Personalbio for cDNA library construction and sequencing by Illumina NovaSeq 6000.