gms | German Medical Science

27th German Cancer Congress Berlin 2006

German Cancer Society (Frankfurt/M.)

22. - 26.03.2006, Berlin

Combinatory Effects of HHV-8-Encoded Proteins: High Throughput Analysis for the Discovery of Pathogenic Factors in the Development of Kaposi’s Sarcoma

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Andreas Konrad - Division of Molecular and Experimental Surgery, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 10, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany, Deutschland
  • Effi Wies - Institute of Clinical and Molecular Virology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schlossgarten 4, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
  • Mathias Thurau - Division of Molecular and Experimental Surgery, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 10, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
  • René Leubert - Institute of Molecular Virology, GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, D-85764 Neuherberg, Germany
  • Sonja Bauer - Institute of Molecular Virology, GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, D-85764 Neuherberg, Germany
  • Thomas F. Schulz - Department of Virology, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, D-30625 Hannover, Germany
  • Werner Hohenberger - Department of Surgery, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Krankenhausstr. 12, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
  • Elisabeth Naschberger - Division of Molecular and Experimental Surgery, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 10, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
  • Frank Neipel - Institute of Clinical and Molecular Virology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schlossgarten 4, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
  • Michael Stürzl - Division of Molecular and Experimental Surgery, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 10, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany

27. Deutscher Krebskongress. Berlin, 22.-26.03.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. DocPO494

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dkk2006/06dkk604.shtml

Published: March 20, 2006

© 2006 Konrad et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

Human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) is the etiological agent of the Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), a tumor of endothelial origin and a prominent inflammatory component. HHV-8 encodes for about 85 genes. Little is known which genes may contribute to KS pathogenesis. In addition most experiments so far analyzed the tumorigenic effects of single viral genes. However, for KS development the cooperation between several different viral genes may be required. Here we present a high throughput approach (cell chips, reverse transfection arrays) for the determination of combinatory effects of HHV-8-encoding genes on the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signal transduction pathway. NF-κB is an important mediator of inflammation and cell activation. At present 80 open reading frames (ORF) of HHV-8 were cloned in expression vectors. All of these ORFs were sequenced and aligned with the published sequences of HHV-8. Expression of the respective viral genes was analyzed by western blotting and immunofluorescence. The effect of these genes, single and in combinations of two, on a GFP-reporter gene under the control of a NF-κB inducible response element was investigated in reverse transfection experiments with HEK 293T cells. Two genes of HHV-8 were found to interact synergistically on the activation of NF-κB in this screen. This finding was confirmed in standard transfection experiments. Further studies are ongoing to determine the molecular mechanisms of this interaction. These results show that the method of reverse transfection is a powerful approach to detect combinatory effects of viral genes on signal transduction pathways.