Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen 1 contributes to nasopharyngeal carcinoma through disruption of PML nuclear bodies.

ABSTRACT: Latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is strongly associated with several cancers, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a tumor that is endemic in several parts of the world. We have investigated the molecular basis for how EBV latent infection promotes the development of NPC. We show that the viral EBNA1 protein, previously known to be required to maintain the EBV episomes, also causes the disruption of the cellular PML (promyelocytic leukemia) nuclear bodies (or ND10s). This disruption occurs both in the context of a native latent infection and when exogenously expressed in EBV-negative NPC cells and involves loss of the PML proteins. We also show that EBNA1 is partially localized to PML nuclear bodies in NPC cells and interacts with a specific PML isoform. PML disruption by EBN

SUBMITTER: Sivachandran N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2542412 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature