title: The K1 protein of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus activates the Akt signaling pathway.
abstract: Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) has been implicated in Kaposi's sarcoma, as well as in primary effusion lymphoma and multicentric Castleman's disease. The K1 protein of KSHV has been shown to induce cellular transformation and focus formation and to deregulate B-lymphocyte signaling pathways by functionally mimicking the activated B-cell receptor complex. Here we show that expression of K1 in B lymphocytes targets the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase pathway, leading to the activation of the Akt kinase and the inhibition of the phosphatase PTEN. We also demonstrate that activation of Akt by the K1 protein leads to the phosphorylation and inhibition of members of the forkhead (FKHR) transcription factor family, which are key regulators of cell cycle progression and apoptosis. We demonstrate that K1 can inhibit apoptosis induced by the FKHR proteins and by stimulation of the Fas receptor. Our observations suggest that the K1 viral protein promotes cell survival pathways and may contribute to KSHV pathogenesis by preventing virally infected cells from undergoing apoptosis prematurely.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Christine C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.forename: Blossom
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Damania
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology*; D002460:Cell Line; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D000071161:Forkhead Box Protein O1; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C085126:FOXO1 protein, human; D000071161:Forkhead Box Protein O1; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; C111600:K1 protein, Human herpesvirus 8; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014764:Viral Proteins; D019014:fas Receptor; C494918:AKT1 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt