Autophagic machinery activated by dengue virus enhances virus replication

Lee, Ying-Ray; Lei, Huan-Yao; Liu, Ming-Tao; Wang, Jen-Ren; Chen, Shun-Hua; Jiang-Shieh, Ya-Fen; Lin, Yee-Shin; Yeh, Trai-Ming; Liu, Ching-Chuan; Liu, Hsiao-Sheng

Autophagy is a cellular response against stresses which include the infection of viruses and bacteria. We unravel that Dengue virus-2 (DV2) can trigger autophagic process in various infected cell lines demonstrated by GFP-LC3 dot formation and increased LC3-II formation. Autophagosome formation was also observed under the transmission electron microscope. DV2-induced autophagy further enhances the titers of extracellular and intracellular viruses indicating that autophagy can promote viral replication in the infected cells. Moreover, our data show that ATG5 protein is required to execute DV2-induced autophagy. All together, we are the first to demonstrate that DV can activate autophagic machinery that is favorable for viral replication.