Chk1 and the Host Cell DNA Damage Response as a Potential Antiviral Target in BK Polyomavirus Infection

Exploring the mechanism of BK polyomavirus-associated nephropathy through consensus gene network approach

BK polyomavirus-associated nephropathy occurs in kidney transplant recipients under immunosuppressive treatment. BK polyomavirus is implicated in cancer development and invasion, and case reports of renal cell carcinoma and urothelial carcinoma possibly associated with BK polyomavirus has been reported. Further, it has been suggested that the immune responses of KT-related diseases could play a role in the pathogenesis and progression of renal cell carcinoma. Thus, we thought to examine the relationship between BK polyomavirus-associated nephropathy and renal cell carcinoma in terms of gene expression. To identify the common and specific immune responses involved in kidney transplantation-related diseases with a specific focus on BK polyomavirus-associated nephropathy, we performed consensus weighted gene co-expression network analysis on gene profile datasets of renal biopsy samples from different institutions. After the identification of gene modules and validation of the obtained network by immunohistochemistry of the marker across kidney transplantation-related diseases, the relationship between prognosis of renal cell carcinoma and modules was assessed. We included the data from 248 patients and identified the 14 gene clusters across the datasets. We revealed that one cluster related to the translation regulating process and DNA damage response was specifically upregulated in BK polyomavirus-associated nephropathy. There was a significant association between the expression value of hub genes of the identified cluster including those related to cGAS-STING pathway and DNA damage response, and the prognosis of renal cell carcinoma. The study suggested the potential link between kidney transplantation-related diseases, especially specific transcriptomic signature of BK polyomavirus associated nephropathy and renal cell carcinoma.

Emetine in Combination with Chloroquine Induces Oncolytic Potential of HIV-1-Based Lentiviral Particles

Chloroquine and Emetine are drugs used to treat human parasitic infections. In addition, it has been shown that these drugs have an antiviral effect. Both drugs were also found to cause a suppressive effect on the growth of cancer cells of different origins. Here, using the replication-deficient HIV-1-based lentiviral vector particles, we evaluated the ability of the combination of these drugs to reduce viral transduction efficiency. We showed that these drugs act synergistically to decrease cancer cell growth when added in combination with medium containing lentiviral particles. We found that the combination of these drugs with lentiviral particles decreases the viability of treated cells. Taken together, we state the oncolytic potential of the medium containing HIV-1-based particles provoked by the combination of Chloroquine and Emetine.