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Journal of Virology, August 2008, p. 7456-7466, Vol. 82, No. 15
0022-538X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.00223-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, United Kingdom,1 Institute of Biochemistry, Medical School Hannover, Carl-Neuberg Strasse 1, D-30625 Hannover, Germany,2 Rudolf-Buchheim-Institut für Pharmakologie, Frankfurter Strasse 107, D-35392 Giessen, Germany,3 Genedata AG, Maulbeerstrasse 46, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland4
Received 1 February 2008/ Accepted 7 May 2008
A transfection assay with a lymphoblastoid cell line infected with Epstein-Barr virus was used to compare the abilities of type 1 and type 2 EBNA2 to sustain cell proliferation. The reduced proliferation in cells expressing type 2 EBNA2 correlated with loss of expression of some cell genes that are known to be targets of type 1 EBNA2. Microarray analysis of EBNA2 target genes identified a small number of genes that are more strongly induced by type 1 than by type 2 EBNA2, and one of these genes (CXCR7) was shown to be required for proliferation of lymphoblastoid cell lines. The Epstein-Barr virus LMP1 gene was also more strongly induced by type 1 EBNA2 than by type 2, but this effect was transient. Type 1 and type 2 EBNA2 were equally effective at arresting cell proliferation of Burkitt's lymphoma cell lines lacking Epstein-Barr virus and were also shown to cause apoptosis in these cells. The results indicate that differential gene regulation by Epstein-Barr virus type 1 and type 2 EBNA2 may be the basis for the much weaker B-cell transformation activity of type 2 Epstein-Barr virus strains compared to type 1 strains.
Published ahead of print on 14 May 2008.
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