Project description:Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), is an AIDS-associated neoplasm caused by the KS herpesvirus (KSHV/ HHV-8). KSHV-sarcomagenesis is the consequence of oncogenic viral gene expression as well as host genetic and epigenetic alterations. Although KSHV is invariably found in all KS lesions, the percentage of KSHV-infected (LANA+) spindle-cells of the lesion is variable, suggesting the existence of paracrine oncogenic mechanisms and/or spindle cells that have lost KSHV. A mouse model of KSHVBac36-driven tumorigenesis allowed us to induce KSHV-episome loss before and after tumor development. Although cells that lose the KSHV episome prior to tumor formation lose their tumorigenicity, explanted KSHV positive tumor cells that lost the KSHV episome remained tumorigenic. This pointed to the existence of virally-induced irreversible oncogenic alterations occurring during KSHV-tumor formation that support the possibility of hit and run viral sarcomagenesis. RNA sequencing and CpG-methylation analysis were performed on KSHV positive and negative cells, KSHV positive and KSHV negative tumors that developed following KSHV-episome loss from explanted tumor cells. When KSHV positive cells form KSHV-driven tumors, along with viral-gene upregulation there is a tendency for hypo-methylation in genes from oncogenic and differentiation pathways. In contrast, KSHV-negative tumors formed after KSHV-episome loss, show a tendency towards gene hyper-methylation when compared to KSHV-positive tumors. Regarding occurrence of host-mutations, we found the same set of innate-immunity related mutations undetected in KSHV-infected cells but present in all KSHV positive tumors, indicating that pre-existing host mutations that provide an in vivo growth advantage are clonally-selected and contribute to KSHV-tumorigenesis. In addition, KSHV negative tumors display de novo mutations related to cell proliferation that, together with the PDGFRAD842V, were responsible for driving tumorigenesis in absence of the KSHV-episomes. KSHV-induced irreversible genetic and epigenetic oncogenic alterations support the possibility of “hit and run” KSHV-sarcomagenesis consistent with the presence of LANA-negative spindle-cells in KS lesions.

Project description:Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) establishes a latent infection, in which most viral genes are silenced except a few latent proteins such as latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA). In latent viral chromatin, viral genes are poised to be transcribed, and KSHV LANA plays a major role in maintaining such transcription status. In the poised chromatins, LANA recruits cellular CHD4 (Chromodomain Helicase DNA binding protein 4) and suppresses inducible viral gene promoters. The CHD4 is known to regulate cell differentiation by restricting enhancer-promoter interactions and its mutation or overexpression deregulates the host cell transcription program and therefore associates with tumorigenesis. Here, we identified a putative CHD4 inhibitor from the LANA amino acid sequence from the LANA-CHD4 interaction surface. The small peptide interacts with CHD4 at its PHD domain with 14 nM KD (dissociation constant). The introduction of the peptide into the primary effusion lymphomas induces caspase-mediated CHD4 cleavage and subsequently triggered cell apoptosis and autophagy. A series of MTT assays demonstrated that the peptide preferentially killed lymphoma and leukemia cell lines at low micromolar concentrations, while peripheral mononuclear cells or adhesion cell lines were found to be more resistant to the peptide treatment. A monocyte cell differentiation model demonstrated that pre-treatment with the peptide at a low dose substantially enhanced transitioning into M2 macrophage (by reducing CHD4 occupancies from gene promoters), and globally altered the repertories of phorbol myristate acetate target genes in U937 cells. Finally, the PEL xenograft mouse model inhibited tumor growth without measurable side effects, and PEL cells isolated from xenograft tumors showed reduced CHD4 and LANA expression with terminally differentiated phenotype. We propose that the peptide isolated from the KSHV LANA sequence is biologically active and may function as a CHD4 inhibitor.

Project description:Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a g-herpesvirus which persists as circular extrachromasomal DNA in the nucleus during latent infection. During latency a limited number of viral proteins are expressed, including LANA (latency-associated nuclear antigen). LANA is a multi-functional protein known to interact with transcriptional regulators and chromatin remodelers, and to regulate the LANA and RTA promoters. We hypothesized that LANA may contribute to the establishment of latency through controlling chromatinization and histone modification of KSHV episomes. We performed ChIP-seq analysis and correlated H3K4me3, H3K27me3, polII, and LANA occupancy of the KSHV genome at nucleotide resolution. Epigenetic marks were analyzed in BCBL-1 lymphoid cells and in telomerase-immortalized vein endothelial TIVE-LTC cells. We found that the transcription active mark H3K4me3, but not silencing mark H3K27me3, was enriched at KSHV regions where LANA is bound. Co-occupancy of LANA and H3K4 was also detected on 167 host genes, of which 89 are actively transcribed. By comparing LANA occupancy with the profiling of 43 transcription factors from ENCODE, a subset of transcription factors was enriched at regions where LANA is bound, including znf143, CTCF, and Stat1. These results indicate that LANA also plays a role in modulating expression of host genes. Co-immunoprecipitation of LANA with the H3K4 methyltransferase hSET1 suggests that LANA recruits hSET1 to specific loci on the viral genome, leading to H3K4 methylation and ensuring transcription of latency-associated genes. Host gene expression may be regulated by the same mechanism. LANA binding was correlated with the distribution in the latent KSHV genome of the transcription active histone modification H3K4me3, the silencing mark H3K27me3, and RNA polymerase II, using cells of lymphoid and endothelial origin. A similar analysis was done for the human genome. Biological replicates (BR) and technical replicates (TR) were included.

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Site-Specific Association with Host and Viral Chromatin by KSHV LANA and its Reversal during Lytic Reactivation

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