📄 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 3C-like protease-induced apoptosis

The pathogenesis of severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is an important issue for the treatment and prevention of severe acute respiratory syndrome. Recently, SARS-CoV has been demonstrated to induce cell apoptosis in Vero-E6 cells. The possible role of SARS-CoV 3C-like protease (3CLpro) in virus-induced apoptosis is characterized in this study. Growth arrest and apoptosis via caspase-3 and caspase-9 activities were demonstrated in SARS-CoV 3CLpro-expressing human promonocyte cells. The fluorescence intensity of dihydrorhodamine 123 staining indicated that cellular reactive oxygen species were markedly increased in SARS-CoV 3CL pro-expressing cells. Moreover, in vivo signalling pathway assay indicated that 3CLpro increased the activation of the nuclear factor-kappa B-dependent reporter, but inhibited activator protein-1-dependent transcription. This finding is likely to be responsible for virus-induced apoptotic signalling. © 2006 Federation of European Microbiological Societies Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

keywords 🔗 severe acute (1373) 🔗 respiratory syndrome-associated (90) 🔗 respiratory syndrome (2004) 🔗 acute respiratory (1734) 🔗 syndrome-associated coronavirus (88)

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