KRAB-Zinc Finger Protein ZNF268a Deficiency Attenuates the Virus-Induced Pro-Inflammatory Response by Preventing IKK Complex Assembly

Despite progress in understanding how virus-induced, NF-κB-dependent pro-inflammatory cytokines are regulated, there are still factors and mechanisms that remain to be explored. We aimed to uncover the relationship between KRAB-zinc finger protein ZNF268a and NF-κB-mediated cytokine production in response to viral infection. To this end, we established a ZNF268a-knockout cell line using a pair of sgRNAs that simultaneously target exon 3 in the coding sequence of the gene in HEK293T. HEK293T cells lacking ZNF268a showed less cytokine expression at the transcription and protein levels in response to Sendai virus/vesicular stomatitis virus (SeV/VSV) infection than wild-type cells. Consistent with HEK293T, knock-down of ZNF268a by siRNAs in THP-1 cells significantly dampened the inflammatory response. Mechanistically, ZNF268a facilitated NF-κB activation by targeting IKKα, helping to maintain the IKK signaling complex and thus enabling proper p65 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation. Taken together, our data suggest that ZNF268a plays a positive role in the regulation of virus-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine production. By interacting with IKKα, ZNF268a promotes NF-κB signal transduction upon viral infection by helping to maintain the association between IKK complex subunits.