title: Epstein-Barr virus BARF1 protein is dispensable for B-cell transformation and inhibits alpha interferon secretion from mononuclear cells.
abstract: The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) BARF1 gene encodes a soluble colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF-1) receptor that neutralizes the effects of CSF-1 in vitro. To study the effect of BARF1 on EBV-induced transformation, we added recombinant BARF1 to B cells in the presence of EBV. BARF1 did not enhance transformation of B cells by EBV in vitro. To study the role of BARF1 in the context of EBV infection, we constructed a recombinant EBV mutant with a large deletion followed by stop codons in the BARF1 gene as well as a recombinant virus with a wild-type BARF1 gene. While BARF1 has previously been shown to act as an oncogene in several cell lines, the EBV BARF1 deletion mutant transformed B cells and initiated latent infection, and the B cells transformed with the BARF1 mutant virus induced tumors in SCID mice with an efficiency similar to that of the wild-type recombinant virus. Since human CSF-1 stimulates secretion of alpha interferon from mononuclear cells and BARF1 encodes a soluble CSF-1 receptor, we examined whether recombinant BARF1 or BARF1 derived from EBV-infected B cells could inhibit alpha interferon secretion. Recombinant BARF1 inhibited alpha interferon secretion by mononuclear cells in a dose-dependent fashion. The B cells transformed with mutant BARF1 EBV showed reduced inhibition of alpha interferon secretion by human mononuclear cells when compared with the B cells transformed with wild-type recombinant virus. These experiments indicate that BARF1 expressed from the EBV genome directly inhibits alpha interferon secretion, which may modulate the innate host response to the virus.
authors.affiliation: Medical Virology Section, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. jcohen@niaid.nih.gov
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lekstrom
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015870:Gene Expression; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007141:Immunoglobulin Fc Fragments / Q000235:genetics; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D016186:Receptor, Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C086495:BARF1 protein, Human herpesvirus 4; D007141:Immunoglobulin Fc Fragments; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; D016186:Receptor, Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor