Assessing the oncolytic potential of rotavirus on mouse myeloma cell line Sp2/0-Ag14. / Evaluación del potencial oncolítico del rotavirus en la línea celular Sp2/0-Ag14 de mieloma de ratón

INTRODUCTION: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, surpassed only by cardiovascular disease. However, cancer has now overtaken cardiovascular disease as the main cause of death in 12 countries in Western Europe. The burden of cancer is posing a major challenge to health care systems worldwide and demanding improvements in methods for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Alternative and complementary strategies for orthodox surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy need to be developed. OBJECTIVE: To determine the oncolytic potential of tumor cell-adapted rotavirus in terms of their ability to infect and lysate murine myeloma Sp2/0-Ag14 cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We inoculated rotaviruses Wt1-5, WWM, TRUYO, ECwt-O, and WTEW in Sp2/0-Ag14 cells and we examined their infectious effects by immunocytochemistry, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, and DNA fragmentation assays. RESULTS: Rotavirus infection involved the participation of some heat shock proteins, of protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), and integrin ß3. We detected the accumulation of viral antigens within the virus-inoculated cells and in the culture medium in all the rotavirus isolates examined. The rotavirus-induced cell death mechanism in Sp2/0-Ag14 cells involved changes in cell membrane permeability, chromatin condensation, and DNA fragmentation, which were compatible with cytotoxicity and apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: The ability of the rotavirus isolates Wt1-5, WWM, TRUYO, ECwt-O, and WTEW to infect and cause cell death of Sp2/0-Ag14 cells through mechanisms that are compatible with virus-induced apoptosis makes them potential candidates as oncolytic agents.

Introducción. El cáncer es la segunda causa de muerte en los Estados Unidos, solamente superado por la enfermedad cardiovascular. Sin embargo, el cáncer aventaja a la enfermedad cardiovascular como primera causa de muerte en doce países de Europa occidental. Se requieren mejores métodos de prevención, diagnóstico y tratamiento para afrontar el gran desafío que el cáncer representa mundialmente para los sistemas de salud, y se necesita desarrollar estrategias alternativas y complementarias a la cirugía, la radioterapia y la quimioterapia convencionales. Objetivo. Evaluar el potencial oncolítico de rotavirus adaptados a células tumorales por su capacidad para infectar y lisar células Sp2/0-Ag14 de mieloma de ratón. Materiales and métodos. Los aislamientos de rotavirus Wt1-5, WWM, TRUYO, ECwt-O y WTEW se inocularon en células Sp2/0-Ag14 y se examinaron sus efectos infecciosos mediante inmunocitoquímica, inmunofluorescencia, citometría de flujo y ensayos de fragmentación del ADN. Resultados. La infección con los rotavirus Wt1-5, WWM, TRUYO, ECwt-O y WTEW implicó la participación de algunas proteínas de choque térmico, la proteína disulfuro isomerasa y la integrina ß3. La acumulación de antígenos virales intracelulares y extracelulares se detectó en todos los virus utilizados. Los mecanismos de muerte inducidos por los rotavirus en células Sp2/0-Ag14 indujeron cambios en la permeabilidad de la membrana celular, la condensación de cromatina y la fragmentación de ADN, los cuales fueron compatibles con citotoxicidad y apoptosis. Conclusiones. La capacidad de los rotavirus estudiados para infectar y causar la muerte de células Sp2/0-Ag14 mediante mecanismos compatibles con la apoptosis inducida viralmente los convierte en candidatos potenciales para ser utilizados como agentes oncolíticos.

Dissecting the role of integrin subunits alpha 2 and beta 3 in rotavirus cell entry by RNA silencing.

Several cell surface molecules have been implicated in rotavirus cell entry, however, their individual relevance during this process is unknown. In this work, the expression of integrins alpha2, beta2, and alpha v beta 3, the heat shock cognate protein 70, and of ganglioside GM1 in different cell lines of human and simian origin was correlated with the infectivity of four rotavirus strains. We observed that different combinations of receptor expression correlated with the infectivity of rotavirus strains, suggesting that the participation of several receptors is important for rotavirus infection. To characterize the relevance of integrins alpha2 and alpha v beta 3 in more detail, their expression was silenced using RNA interference. About 80% decrease in the cell content of integrins resulted in 15-30% decrease of infectivity of strains RRV and Wa when measured by a focus-forming assay, while there was no decrease of infectivity when measured by flow cytometry in integrin-deficient cells. Altogether these data suggest that integrins alpha2 and alpha v beta 3 do not play a major role in the rotavirus entry process.

Signaling triggered by Thy-1 interaction with beta 3 integrin on astrocytes is an essential step towards unraveling neuronal Thy-1 function.

Thy-1 is an abundant neuronal glycoprotein in mammals. Despite such prevalence, Thy-1 function remains largely obscure in the absence of a defined ligand. Recently described evidence that Thy-1 interacts with beta 3 integrin on astrocytes will be discussed. Thy-1 binding to beta 3 integrin triggers tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion proteins in astrocytes, thereby promoting focal adhesion formation, cell attachment and spreading. Thy-1 has been reported to modulate neurite outgrowth by triggering a cellular response in neurons. However, our data indicate that Thy-1 can also initiate signaling events that promote adhesion of adjacent astrocytes to the underlying surface. Preliminary results suggest that morphological changes observed in the actin cytoskeleton of astrocytes as a consequence of Thy-1 binding is mediated by small GTPases from the Rho family. Our findings argue that Thy-1 functions in a bimodal fashion, as a receptor on neuronal cells and as a ligand for beta 3 integrin receptor on astrocytes. Since Thy-1 is implicated in the inhibition of neurite outgrowth, signaling events in astrocytes are likely to play an important role in this process.