The Ying-Yang of the virus-host interaction: Control of the DNA damage response

摘要

Viruses have evolved elegant strategies to manipulate the host while the host counters with defense systems including the interferon response, apoptosis, and the DNA damage response (DDR). Viruses have multiple strategies for manipulating the DDR and even the same virus can activate or inhibit the DDR at different stages of infection. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a virus implicated in several human cancers including Burkitt’s lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, and HIV associated lymphomas. Although multiple viral proteins have been implicated in EBV associated malignancies, the cellular pathways that control EBV-induced transformation and tumorigenesis remain incompletely understood. In this study, Nikitin et al demonstrate that early EBV infection induces a cellular DDR which restricts virus-mediated transformation. The EBV encoded EBNA3C protein subsequently attenuates this response to favor transformation and immortalization of host cells.