c-Abl tyrosine kinase interacts with MAVS and regulates innate immune response

The tyrosine kinase, c-Abl, plays important roles in many aspects of cellular function. Previous reports showed that c-Abl is involved in NF-kappaB signaling. However, the functions of c-Abl in innate immunity are still unknown. Here we demonstrate that the mitochondrial antiviral signaling (MAVS) protein can be physically associated with c-Abl in vivo and in vitro. MAVS interacted with c-Abl through its Card and TM domain. A phosphotyrosine-specific antibody indicated that MAVS was phosphorylated by c-Abl. Functional impairment of c-Abl attenuated MAVS or VSV induced type-I IFN production. Importantly, c-Abl knockdown in MCF7 cells displayed impaired MAVS-mediated NF-kappaB and IRF3 activation. Taken together, our results suggest that c-Abl modulates innate immune response through MAVS.