Rb selectively inhibits innate IFN-β production by enhancing deacetylation of IFN-β promoter through HDAC1 and HDAC8.

Abstract Type I IFN production is tightly controlled by host to generate efficient viral clearance without harmful immunopathology or induction of autoimmune disorders. Epigenetic regulation of type I IFN production in innate immunity and inflammatory disorders remains to be fully understood. Several tumor suppressors have been shown to regulate immune response and inflammation. However, the non-classical functions of tumor suppressors in innate immunity and inflammatory diseases need further identification. Here we report retinoblastoma protein (Rb) deficiency selectively enhanced TLR- and virus-triggered production of IFN-β which thus induced more IFN-α generation in the later phase of innate stimuli, but had no effect on the production of TNF, IL-6 and early phase IFN-α in macrophages. Rb1 fl/fl Lyz2cre + Rb-deficient mice exhibited more resistant to lethal virus infection and more effective clearance of influenza virus. Rb selectively bound Ifnb1 enhancer region, but not the promoter of Ifna4 , Tnf and Il6 , by interacting with c-Jun, the component of IFN-β enhanceosome. Then Rb recruited HDAC1 and HDAC8 to attenuate acetylation of Histone H3/H4 in Ifnb1 promoter, resulting in suppression of Ifnb1 transcription. Therefore, Rb selectively inhibits innate IFN-β production by enhancing deacetylation of Ifnb1 promoter, exhibiting a previous unknown non-classical role in innate immunity, which also suggests a role of Rb in the regulation of type I IFN production in inflammatory or autoimmune diseases.