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      Herpesvirus pan encodes a functional homologue of BHRF1, the Epstein-Barr virus v-Bcl-2

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      1 , 1 , 1 ,
      BMC Microbiology
      BioMed Central

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          Abstract

          Background

          Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latently infects about 90% of the human population and is associated with benign and malignant diseases of lymphoid and epithelial origin. BHRF1, an early lytic cycle antigen, is an apoptosis suppressing member of the Bcl-2 family. In vitro studies imply that BHRF1 is dispensable for both virus replication and transformation. However, the fact that BHRF1 is highly conserved not only in all EBV isolates studied to date but also in the analogous viruses Herpesvirus papio and Herpesvirus pan that infect baboons and chimpanzees respectively, suggests BHRF1 may play an important role in vivo.

          Results

          Herpesvirus papio BHRF1 has been shown to function in an analogous manner to EBV BHRF1 in response to DNA damaging agents in human keratinocytes. In this study we show that the heterologous expression of the previously uncharacterised Herpesvirus pan BHRF1 in the human Burkitt's lymphoma cell line Ramos-BL provides similar anti-apoptotic functions to that of EBV BHRF1 in response to apoptosis triggered by serum withdrawal, etoposide treatment and ultraviolet (UV) radiation. We also map the amino acid changes onto the recently solved structure of the EBV BHRF1 and reveal that these changes are unlikely to alter the 3D structure of the protein.

          Conclusions

          These findings show that the functional conservation of BHRF1 extends to a lymphoid background, suggesting that the primate virus proteins interact with cellular proteins that are themselves highly conserved across the higher primates. Further weight is added to this suggestion when we show that the difference in amino acid sequences map to regions on the 3D structure of EBV BHRF1 that are unlikely to change the conformation of the protein.

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          Most cited references30

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          Viruses and apoptosis.

          Successful viral replication requires not only the efficient production and spread of progeny, but also evasion of host defense mechanisms that limit replication by killing infected cells. In addition to inducing immune and inflammatory responses, infection by most viruses triggers apoptosis or programmed cell death of the infected cell. This cell response often results as a compulsory or unavoidable by-product of the action of critical viral replicative functions. In addition, some viruses seem to use apoptosis as a mechanism of cell killing and virus spread. In both cases, successful replication relies on the ability of certain viral products to block or delay apoptosis until sufficient progeny have been produced. Such proteins target a variety of strategic points in the apoptotic pathway. In this review we summarize the great amount of recent information on viruses and apoptosis and offer insights into how this knowledge may be used for future research and novel therapies.
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            Induction of bcl-2 expression by Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein 1 protects infected B cells from programmed cell death.

            Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) not only induces growth transformation in human B lymphocytes, but has more recently been shown to enhance B cell survival under suboptimal conditions where growth is inhibited; both effects are mediated through the coordinate action of eight virus-coded latent proteins. The effect upon cell survival is best recognized in EBV-positive Burkitt's lymphoma cell lines where activation of full virus latent gene expression protects the cells from programmed cell death (apoptosis). Here we show by DNA transfection into human B cells that protection from apoptosis is conferred through expression of a single EBV latent protein, the latent membrane protein LMP 1. Furthermore, we demonstrate that LMP 1 mediates this effect by up-regulating expression of the cellular oncogene bcl-2. The interplay between EBV infection and expression of this cellular oncogene has important implications for virus persistence and for the pathogenesis of virus-associated malignant disease.
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              The Epstein-Barr virus LMP1 gene product induces A20 zinc finger protein expression by activating nuclear factor kappa B.

              A20 is an inducible zinc finger protein that confers resistance to tumor necrosis factor alpha cytotoxicity. A survey of various cell lines revealed that A20 was constitutively expressed in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-immortalized B-cells. Transfection experiments demonstrated that the EBV latent membrane protein LMP1 induced A20 expression. LMP1 is a transforming protein of EBV that has dramatic effects on cell growth, activation, and survival. An integral membrane phosphoprotein, LMP1 bears no homology to other recognized membrane signaling molecules, and its signal transduction pathway is not known. However, studies using the A20 promoter demonstrated that LMP1 transcriptionally activates the A20 gene through cis-acting kappa B sites. In addition, electrophoretic mobility shift assays confirmed LMP1-inducible binding of an NF-kappa B-like factor to kappa B sequences within the A20 promoter. This is the first report implicating NF-kappa B in signaling by LMP1, a fundamentally important viral transforming protein.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                BMC Microbiol
                BMC Microbiology
                BioMed Central (London )
                1471-2180
                2005
                3 February 2005
                : 5
                : 6
                Affiliations
                [1 ]School of Life Sciences, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK
                Article
                1471-2180-5-6
                10.1186/1471-2180-5-6
                548687
                15691372
                cc3399d0-454a-4af1-9c48-16b47b1dba99
                Copyright © 2005 Howell et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 23 August 2004
                : 3 February 2005
                Categories
                Research Article

                Microbiology & Virology
                Microbiology & Virology

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