How a Virus Tricks Cells into Helping It Build an Invasion Route
Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School have revealed important clues how a certain type of viruses, known as polyomaviruses, invade the nucleus of healthy cells. The findings could aid the search for new treatments or preventive strategies against the problems that polyomaviruses can cause, including the deadly skin cancer Merkel cell carcinoma, and the fatal problems in people who are immunocompromised because of organ transplants and cancer treatment.
“Our results suggest polyomavirus hijacks a kind of cellular molecular motor whose normal job is to transport cargoes, and uses it to build a penetration site or portal,” says Billy Tsai, PhD, the Corydon Ford Collegiate Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.
Essentially, the virus takes over the cell’s “forklift,” properly known as kinesin-1. When uncompromised, each kinesin-1 molecule travels along tiny stiff paths called microtubules, carrying loads of proteins where they need to go inside the cell in order to build the cell’s products.The research says that the polyomavirus tricks the kinesin-1 molecule into bringing what the virus needs right to it, helping it to grow.
Funding: This work was supported by NIH grants.
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