Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus latency-associated nuclear antigen prolongs the life span of primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

ABSTRACT: Tumor spindle cells in all clinical types of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) are infected with Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). Although KSHV contains more than 80 genes, only a few are expressed in tumor spindle cells, including latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) and k-cyclin (kCYC). To assess the oncogenic potential of LANA and kCYC, primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and murine NIH 3T3 cells were stably transduced by using recombinant retroviruses expressing these genes or the known viral oncogene simian virus 40 large T antigen (LTAg). Interestingly, LANA-transduced HUVEC proliferated faster and demonstrated a greatly prolonged life span (mean +/- standard deviation, 38.3 +/- 11.0 passages) than untransduced cells and vector-transduced cells (<20 passage

SUBMITTER: Watanabe T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC155023 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature