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Journal of Virology, December 2009, p. 12388-12398, Vol. 83, No. 23
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.00304-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Human Cytomegalovirus IE1-72 Protein Interacts with p53 and Inhibits p53-Dependent Transactivation by a Mechanism Different from That of IE2-86 Protein{triangledown}

Eung-Soo Hwang,1,{dagger} Zhigang Zhang,2,{dagger} Haobin Cai,2 David Y. Huang,3 Shu-Mei Huong,2 Chang-Yong Cha,1 and Eng-Shang Huang2,4,5*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, and Institute of Endemic Diseases, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul 110-799, South Korea,1 Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center,2 Department of Neurology,3 Department of Medicine,4 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-72955

Received 11 February 2009/ Accepted 11 September 2009

Infection of host cells with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) induces cell cycle dysregulation. Two HCMV immediate-early (IE) proteins, IE1-72 and IE2-86, are promiscuous transactivators that have been implicated in the dysregulatory events. Cellular p53 protein is accumulated to high levels in HCMV-infected cells, but the indicative marker of p53 transcriptional activity, p21, is markedly decreased. Both IE1-72 and IE2-86 were able to transactivate the p53 promoter and interact with p53 protein in DNA-transfected or HCMV-infected cells. HCMV UL84, a multiregulatory protein expressed in early periods of HCMV infection, also interacted with p53. HCMV IE1-72 prevented or disrupted p53 binding to p53-specific DNA sequences, while IE2-86 and/or UL84 enhanced p53 binding and induced supershift of this DNA-protein complex. Both HCMV IE1-72 and IE2-86 were able to inhibit p53-dependent transcriptional activation in plasmid-transfected cells. IE1-72, rather than IE2-86, was found to be responsible for p21 downregulation in HCMV-infected HEL cells. DNA transfection analysis using IE1-72 mutants revealed that exon 2/3 and the zinc finger region of IE1-72 are essential for IE1-72's effect on the repression of p53-dependent transcriptional activation. These data suggest that HCMV IE1-72 and/or IE2-86 transactivates the p53 promoter and induces p53 accumulation, but HCMV IE1-72 represses the p53 transactivation activity by a unique binding hindrance mechanism different from that of IE2-86. Thus, various modes of viral IE proteins and p53 interactions might result in multiple outcomes, such as stimulation of cellular DNA synthesis, cell cycle progression and cell cycle arrest, and prevention of program cell death.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, CB#7295, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7295. Phone: (919) 966-4323. Fax: (919) 966-4303. E-mail: eshuang{at}med.unc.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 23 September 2009.

{dagger} E.-S.H. and Z.Z. contributed equally to this work.

Journal of Virology, December 2009, p. 12388-12398, Vol. 83, No. 23
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.00304-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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