scholarly journals Modification of EBV Associated Lymphomagenesis and Its Immune Control by Co-Infections and Genetics in Humanized Mice

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Schuhmachers ◽  
Christian Münz
Keyword(s):  
Adult Population ◽  
Human Tumor ◽  
Kaposi Sarcoma ◽  
Humanized Mice ◽  
Immune Control ◽  
Barr Virus ◽  
Human B Cells ◽  
Tumor Virus ◽  
Epstein Barr ◽  
Potent Growth

Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is one of the most successful pathogens in humans with more than 95% of the human adult population persistently infected. EBV infects only humans and threatens these with its potent growth transforming ability that readily allows for immortalization of human B cells in culture. Accordingly, it is also found in around 1-2% of human tumors, primarily lymphomas and epithelial cell carcinomas. Fortunately, however, our immune system has learned to control this most transforming human tumor virus in most EBV carriers, and it requires modification of EBV associated lymphomagenesis and its immune control by either co-infections, such as malaria, Kaposi sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or genetic predispositions for EBV positive tumors to emerge. Some of these can be modelled in humanized mice that, therefore, provide a valuable platform to test curative immunotherapies and prophylactic vaccines against these EBV associated pathologies.

scholarly journals Modification of EBV-Associated Pathologies and Immune Control by Coinfections

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Münz
Keyword(s):  
Adult Population ◽  
Kaposi Sarcoma ◽  
Human Immune System ◽  
Immune Control ◽  
Barr Virus ◽  
Human B Cells ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Epstein Barr ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

The oncogenic Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) persistently infects more than 95% of the human adult population. Even so it can readily transform human B cells after infection in vitro, it only rarely causes tumors in patients. A substantial proportion of the 1% of all human cancers that are associated with EBV occurs during coinfections, including those with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and the also oncogenic and closely EBV-related Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). In this review, I will discuss how these infections interact with EBV, modify its immune control, and shape its tumorigenesis. The underlying mechanisms reveal new aspects of EBV-associated pathologies and point toward treatment possibilities for their prevention by the human immune system.

scholarly journals The Role of Dendritic Cells in Immune Control and Vaccination against γ-Herpesviruses

Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Münz
Keyword(s):  
Kaposi Sarcoma ◽  
Immune Control ◽  
Barr Virus ◽  
Persistent Infections ◽  
Cell Responses ◽  
Tumor Virus ◽  
Epstein Barr ◽  
Antigen Presenting ◽  
Adoptive Transfer Therapy

The two human oncogenic γ-herpesviruses, Epstein Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), are prototypic pathogens that are controlled by T cell responses. Despite their ubiquitous distribution, persistent infections and transforming potential, most carriers’ immune systems control them for life. Therefore, they serve as paradigms of how near-perfect cell-mediated immune control can be initiated and maintained for decades. Interestingly, EBV especially quite efficiently avoids dendritic cell (DC) activation, and little evidence exists that these most potent antigen-presenting cells of the human body are involved in the priming of immune control against this tumor virus. However, DCs can be harnessed therapeutically to expand virus-specific T cells for adoptive transfer therapy of patients with virus-associated malignancies and are also currently explored for vaccinations. Unfortunately, despite 55 and 25 years of research on EBV and KSHV, respectively, the priming of their immune control that belongs to the most robust and durable immune responses in humans still remains unclear.

scholarly journals Immune Control and Vaccination against the Epstein–Barr Virus in Humanized Mice

Vaccines ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Münz
Keyword(s):  
T Cell ◽  
Epstein Barr Virus ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Humanized Mice ◽  
Cytotoxic Lymphocytes ◽  
Human Immune System ◽  
Immune Control ◽  
Cytotoxic Lymphocyte ◽  
Barr Virus ◽  
Epstein Barr

Mice with reconstituted human immune system components (humanized mice) offer the unique opportunity to test vaccines preclinically in the context of vaccine adjuvant sensing by human antigen presenting cells and priming of human cytotoxic lymphocyte populations. These features are particularly attractive for immune control of the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), which represents the most potent growth-transforming pathogen in man and exclusively relies on cytotoxic lymphocytes for its asymptomatic persistence in the vast majority of healthy virus carriers. This immune control is particularly impressive because EBV infects more than 95% of the human adult population and persists without pathology for more than 50 years in most of them. This review will discuss the pathologies that EBV elicits in humanized mice, which immune responses control it in this model, as well as which passive and active vaccination schemes with adoptive T cell transfer and with virus-like particles or individual antigens, respectively, have been explored in this model so far. EBV-specific CD8+ T cell priming in humanized mice could provide crucial insights into how cytotoxic lymphocytes against other viruses and tumors might be elicited by vaccination in humans.

EBV+ Lymphoproliferative Diseases: Opportunities for leveraging EBV as a Therapeutic Target

Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keri Toner ◽  
Catherine M. Bollard
Keyword(s):  
Proliferative Response ◽  
Epstein Barr Virus ◽  
Human Tumor ◽  
Lymphoproliferative Disease ◽  
Lymphoproliferative Diseases ◽  
Malignant Lymphomas ◽  
Barr Virus ◽  
Immune Therapies ◽  
Tumor Virus ◽  
Epstein Barr

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous human tumor virus, which contributes to the development of lymphoproliferative disease, most notably in patients with impaired immunity. EBV associated lymphoproliferation is characterized by expression of latent EBV proteins and ranges in severity from a relatively benign proliferative response to aggressive malignant lymphomas. The presence of EBV can also serve as a unique target for directed therapies for the treatment of EBV lymphoproliferative diseases, including T cell based immune therapies. In this review, we will describe the EBV-associated lymphoproliferative diseases and will particularly focus on the therapies that target EBV.

scholarly journals Epstein-Barr Virus Facilitates Expression of KLF14 by Regulating the Cooperative Binding of the E2F-Rb-HDAC Complex in Latent Infection

2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yonggang Pei ◽  
Josiah Hiu-yuen Wong ◽  
Hem Chandra Jha ◽  
Tian Tian ◽  
Zhi Wei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Epstein Barr Virus ◽  
Latent Infection ◽  
Human Tumor ◽  
Barr Virus ◽  
Repressor Complex ◽  
Tumor Virus ◽  
Epstein Barr

ABSTRACT Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was discovered as the first human tumor virus more than 50 years ago. EBV infects more than 90% of the human population worldwide and is associated with numerous hematologic malignancies and epithelial malignancies. EBV establishes latent infection in B cells, which is the typical program seen in lymphomagenesis. Understanding EBV-mediated transcription regulatory networks is one of the current challenges that will uncover new insights into the mechanism of viral-mediated lymphomagenesis. Here, we describe the regulatory profiles of several cellular factors (E2F6, E2F1, Rb, HDAC1, and HDAC2) together with EBV latent nuclear antigens using next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis. Our results show that the E2F-Rb-HDAC complex exhibits similar distributions in genomic regions of EBV-positive cells and is associated with oncogenic super-enhancers involving long-range regulatory regions. Furthermore, EBV latent antigens cooperatively hijack this complex to bind at KLFs gene loci and facilitate KLF14 gene expression in lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). These results demonstrate that EBV latent antigens can function as master regulators of this multisubunit repressor complex (E2F-Rb-HDAC) to reverse its suppressive activities and facilitate downstream gene expression that can contribute to viral-induced lymphomagenesis. These results provide novel insights into targets for the development of new therapeutic interventions for treating EBV-associated lymphomas. IMPORTANCE Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), as the first human tumor virus, infects more than 90% of the human population worldwide and is associated with numerous human cancers. Exploring EBV-mediated transcription regulatory networks is critical to understand viral-associated lymphomagenesis. However, the detailed mechanism is not fully explored. Now we describe the regulatory profiles of the E2F-Rb-HDAC complex together with EBV latent antigens, and we found that EBV latent antigens cooperatively facilitate KLF14 expression by antagonizing this multisubunit repressor complex in EBV-positive cells. This provides potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of EBV-associated cancers.

scholarly journals Modulation of the Cell Growth Regulator mTOR by Epstein-Barr Virus-Encoded LMP2A

2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 5499-5506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cary A. Moody ◽  
Rona S. Scott ◽  
Nazanin Amirghahari ◽  
Cherie-Ann Nathan ◽  
Lawrence S. Young ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Epstein Barr Virus ◽  
Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin ◽  
Human Tumor ◽  
Protein Translation ◽  
Negative Regulator ◽  
Initiation Factor ◽  
Barr Virus ◽  
Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 4E ◽  
Tumor Virus ◽  
Epstein Barr

ABSTRACT Control of translation initiation is one means by which cells regulate growth and proliferation, with components of the protein-synthesizing machinery having oncogenic potential. Expression of latency protein LMP2A by the human tumor virus Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) activates phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt located upstream of an essential mediator of growth signals, mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin). We show that mTOR is activated by expression of LMP2A in carcinoma cells, leading to wortmannin- and rapamycin-sensitive inhibition of the negative regulator of translation, eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1, and increased c-Myc protein translation. Intervention by this DNA tumor virus in cellular translational controls is likely to be an integral component of EBV tumorigenesis.

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