Hepatitis C virus upregulates B-cell receptor signaling: a novel mechanism for HCV-associated B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders.

B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling is essential for the development of B cells and has a critical role in B-cell neoplasia. Increasing evidence indicates an association between chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and B-cell lymphoma, however, the mechanisms by which HCV causes B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder are still unclear. Herein, we demonstrate the expression of HCV viral proteins in B cells of HCV-infected patients and show that HCV upregulates BCR signaling in human primary B cells. HCV nonstructural protein NS3/4A interacts with CHK2 and downregulates its activity, modulating HuR posttranscriptional regulation of a network of target mRNAs associated with B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders. Interestingly, the BCR signaling pathway was found to have the largest number of transcripts with increased association with HuR and was upregulated by NS3/4A. Our study reveals a previously unidentified role of NS3/4A in regulation of host BCR signaling during HCV infection, contributing to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying HCV-associated B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders.

Ribosomal protein S6 is highly expressed in non-Hodgkin lymphoma and associates with mRNA containing a 5' terminal oligopyrimidine tract.

The molecular mechanism(s) linking tumorigenesis and morphological alterations in the nucleolus are presently coming into focus. The nucleolus is the cellular organelle in which the formation of ribosomal subunits occurs. Ribosomal biogenesis occurs through the transcription of ribosomal RNA (rRNA), rRNA processing and production of ribosomal proteins. An error in any of these processes may lead to deregulated cellular translation, evident in multiple cancers and 'ribosomopathies'. Deregulated protein synthesis may be achieved through the overexpression of ribosomal proteins as seen in primary leukemic blasts with elevated levels of ribosomal proteins S11 and S14. In this study, we demonstrate that ribosomal protein S6 (RPS6) is highly expressed in primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) samples. Genetic modulation of RPS6 protein levels with specifically targeted short hairpin RNA (shRNA) lentiviruses led to a decrease in the actively proliferating population of cells compared with control shRNA. Low-dose rapamycin treatments have been shown to affect the translation of 5' terminal oligopyrimidine (5' TOP) tract mRNA, which encodes the translational machinery, implicating RPS6 in 5' TOP translation. Recently, it was shown that disruption of 40S ribosomal biogenesis through specific small inhibitory RNA knockdown of RPS6 defined RPS6 as a critical regulator of 5' TOP translation. For the first time, we show that RPS6 associates with multiple mRNAs containing a 5' TOP tract. These findings expand our understanding of the mechanism(s) involved in ribosomal biogenesis and deregulated protein synthesis in DLBCL.

Post-transcriptional gene regulation by HuR promotes a more tumorigenic phenotype.

In a breast tumor xenograft model, the MCT-1 oncogene increases the in vivo tumorgenicity of MCF7 cells by promoting angiogenesis and inhibiting apoptosis. Increases in the tumor microvascular density are accompanied by a strong reduction in the levels of the angiogenesis inhibitor thrombospondin-1 (TSP1), but the mechanisms underlying this process are unknown. We show that TSP1 expression is controlled, at least in part, by post-transcriptional events. Using RNA interference to knock down the expression of the RNA-binding protein HuR in MCF7 cells as well as HuR overexpression, we demonstrate that HuR plays an important role in translation of the TSP1 mRNA. Furthermore, employing the RIP-Chip assay yielded 595 transcripts with significantly altered binding to HuR in the more tumorigenic breast cancer clones compared with the weakly tumorigenic clones. These mRNAs clustered in several pathways implicated in the transformed phenotype, such as the RAS pathway (involved in mitogenesis), the PI3K pathway (evasion of apoptosis) and pathways mediating angiogenesis and the cellular response to hypoxia. These findings demonstrate for the first time that global changes in HuR-bound mRNAs are implicated in the evolution to a more tumorigenic phenotype in an in vivo tumor model and underscore the role of global mRNA-protein interactions toward tumor progression.

Phosphorylation of MCT-1 by p44/42 MAPK is required for its stabilization in response to DNA damage.

We discovered a novel oncogene in a T-cell lymphoma cell line, multiple copies in T-cell lymphoma-1 (MCT-1), that has been shown to decrease cell-doubling time, shorten the duration of G(1) transit time and/or G(1)-S transition, and transform NIH3T3 fibroblasts. We subsequently demonstrated that there were significantly increased levels of MCT-1 protein in a subset of primary diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. Levels of MCT-1 protein were shown to be increased after exposure to DNA damaging agents. This increase did not require new protein synthesis, suggesting that post-translational mechanisms were involved. Phosphorylation is one potential mechanism by which the activity of molecules involved in cell cycle/survival is rapidly modulated. The RAS/mitogen-activated/extracellular-regulated kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) pathway plays a prominent role in the regulation of cell growth and proliferation through phosphorylation-dependent regulation of several substrates. The MCT-1 protein is predicted to have numerous putative phosphorylation sites. Using a combination of genetic and pharmacological approaches, we established that phosphorylation of MCT-1 protein by p44/p42 mitogen-activated protein kinases is critical for stabilization of MCT-1 protein and for its ability to promote cell proliferation. Our data suggests that targeting the RAS/MEK/ERK signal transduction cascade may provide a potential therapeutic approach in lymphomas and related malignancies that exhibit high levels of MCT-1 protein.