title: Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus induction of AP-1 and interleukin 6 during primary infection mediated by multiple mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways.
abstract: Kaposi's sarcoma is an angioproliferative disseminated tumor of endothelial cells linked to infection with Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). AP-1 transcription factors are involved in diverse biological processes, including infection and replication of viruses, cell growth, oncogenesis, angiogenesis, and invasion of cancer cells. Here we show that KSHV activates AP-1 during primary infection. The activation of AP-1 at the early stage of KSHV infection is mainly mediated by virus entry events. Concurrently, KSHV infection strongly activates MEK, JNK, and to a lesser extent, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. Specific inhibitors or dominant negative constructs of MEK and JNK completely abolish AP-1 activation by KSHV, while those of p38 reduce it by half. Furthermore, individual MAPK pathways differentially regulate KSHV activation of AP-1 components. KSHV activation of AP-1 leads to the transcriptional induction of interleukin 6 (IL-6), which is inhibited by inhibitors or dominant negative constructs of MAPK pathways. Together, these results demonstrate that KSHV induces AP-1 and IL-6 during primary infection by modulating multiple MAPK pathways. Because of the diverse roles of IL-6, AP-1, and MAPK pathways in viral infection and tumor induction and promotion, these results have important implications in the pathogenesis of KSHV-induced malignancies.
authors.affiliation: Tumor Virology Program, Children's Cancer Research Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Hongyi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Seungmin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Shou-Jiang
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D020935:MAP Kinase Signaling System; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000502:physiology*; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000821:virology; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1 / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases