Adenovirus's last trick: you say lysis, we say autophagy.
The last stage of the adenovirus replication cycle, lysis, is considered not very efficient and remains poorly understood. Pathogen infection induces autophagy in eukaryotic cells. In the case of viruses, autophagy is a double-edged sword that can either facilitate or impede replication. On one hand, autophagy reduces the replication capability of the herpesviruses. On the other hand, the RNA virus poliovirus uses autophagosomes to form replication complexes. Recently we characterized the autophagy induced by the oncolytic adenovirus Delta-24-RGD in brain tumor stem cells. Late in the adenoviral infectious cycle, we observed remarkable upregulation of the Atg12-Atg5 complex and prominent autophagy. In addition, adenovirus-induced autophagy results in disruption of the cytoplasmic structure and the continuity of the cellular membrane. We speculate that adenoviruses induce autophagy to facilitate the release of viral progeny at the end of the infectious cycle. The substitution of 'autophagy' for 'lysis' is not just semantic. Because autophagy is a genetically programmed process and not a passive phenomenon, it immediately suggests interactions between adenovirus proteins and autophagy regulators. Understanding the mechanism underlying adenovirus-mediated autophagy should propel the development of novel vectors with enhanced capability to release viral progeny and, as a result, morepotent oncolytic effect.
Jiang
Hong
H
Brain Tumor Center, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. hjiang@mdanderson.org
White
Erin J
EJ
Gomez-Manzano
Candelaria
C
Fueyo
Juan
J
D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000502:physiology*; D000257:Adenoviridae Infections / Q000378:metabolism; D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms; D006801:Humans; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010588:Phagosomes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014779:Virus Replication