Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Virology, December 2001, p. 11437-11448, Vol. 75, No. 23
Department of Medical Microbiology and
Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2S2
Received 25 June 2001/Accepted 29 August 2001
Many viruses have evolved strategies that target crucial components
within the apoptotic cascade. One of the best studied is the caspase 8 inhibitor, crmA/Spi-2, encoded by members of the poxvirus family. Since
many proapoptotic stimuli induce apoptosis through a
mitochondrion-dependent, caspase 8-independent pathway, we hypothesized
that vaccinia virus would encode a mechanism to directly modulate the
mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. In support of this, we observed that
Jurkat cells, which undergo Fas-mediated apoptosis exclusively through
the mitochondrial route, were resistant to Fas-induced death following
infection with a crmA/Spi-2-deficient strain of vaccinia virus. In
addition, vaccinia virus-infected cells subjected to the proapoptotic
stimulus staurosporine exhibited decreased levels of both cytochrome
c released from the mitochondria and caspase 3 activation. In all cases we found that the loss of the
mitochondrial membrane potential, which occurs as a result of opening
the multimeric permeability transition pore complex, was prevented in
vaccinia virus-infected cells. Moreover, vaccinia virus infection
specifically inhibited opening of the permeability transition pore
following treatment with the permeability transition pore ligand
atractyloside and t-butylhydroperoxide. These studies indicate that vaccinia virus infection directly impacts the
mitochondrial apoptotic cascade by influencing the permeability
transition pore.
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.23.11437-11448.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Vaccinia Virus Infection Disarms the
Mitochondrion-Mediated Pathway of the Apoptotic Cascade by Modulating
the Permeability Transition Pore
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Medical Microbiology and Immunology, 671 Heritage Medical Research
Center, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2S2.
Phone: (780) 492-0702. Fax: (780) 492-9828. E-mail:
michele.barry{at}ualberta.ca.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»