title: CUG2, a novel oncogene confers reoviral replication through Ras and p38 signaling pathway.
abstract: As we have recently found a novel oncogene, the cancer-upregulated gene 2 (CUG2), which was elevated in a variety of tumor tissues such as the ovary, liver, lung and pancreas, we examined whether reovirus could efficiently induce cytolysis in cancer cells expressing CUG2 and thus be used as a potential cancer therapeutic agent. In this study, we describe experiments in which we use reovirus to treat NIH3T3 cells stably expressing either CUG2 (NIH-CUG2) or vector only (NIH-Vec). NIH-CUG2 cells readily support reoviral proliferation and undergo apoptosis, whereas NIH-Vec cells are highly resistant to reoviral infection and virus-induced apoptosis. This notable result may be explained by the observation that CUG2 expression inhibits PKR activation, leading to reoviral proliferation in nonpermissive NIH3T3 cells. Furthermore, reovirus infection results in almost complete regression of tumorgenic NIH-CUG2 cells in transplanted nude mice. As we found that CUG2 enhances activation of MAPK (ERK, JNK and p38), Src kinase and Ras, we examined whether CUG2 confers reoviral replication independent of the Ras or p38 MAPK signaling pathway. From these experiments we found that either inhibition of p38 MAPK or Ras blocks reoviral proliferation even in the presence of CUG2 but inhibition of ERK, JNK and Src kinase does not, indicating that activation of p38 MAPK and Ras has critical roles in reoviral replication in CUG2-expressing tumor cells. Accordingly, we propose that reovirus can be useful in the treatment of transformed cells expressing CUG2, which is commonly detected in various tumor tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cogno-Mechatronics Engineering, BK21 Nanofusion Technology Team, Pusan National University, Miryang, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: E-H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: I-R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Srisuttee
authors.forename: H-J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: M-J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Y-J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Jhun
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Y-H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002460:Cell Line; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D012087:Reoviridae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C534000:CENPW protein, human; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D018631:ras Proteins