Identification of protein kinase inhibitors with a selective negative effect on the viability of Epstein-Barr virus infected B cell lines

PLoS One. 2014 Apr 23;9(4):e95688. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095688. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a human herpesvirus, which is causally associated with the development of several B lymphocytic malignancies that include Burkitt's lymphomas, Hodgkin's disease, AIDS and posttransplant associated lymphomas. The transforming activity of EBV is orchestrated by several latent viral proteins that mimic and modulate cellular growth promoting and antiapoptotic signaling pathways, which involve among others the activity of protein kinases. In an effort to identify small molecule inhibitors of the growth of EBV-transformed B lymphocytes a library of 254 kinase inhibitors was screened. This effort identified two tyrosine kinase inhibitors and two MEK inhibitors that compromised preferentially the viability of EBV-infected human B lymphocytes. Our findings highlight the possible dependence of EBV-infected B lymphocytes on specific kinase-regulated pathways underlining the potential for the development of small molecule-based therapeutics that could target selectively EBV-associated human B lymphocyte malignancies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • B-Lymphocytes / cytology
  • B-Lymphocytes / drug effects
  • B-Lymphocytes / virology*
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Survival / drug effects*
  • Herpesvirus 4, Human / pathogenicity*
  • Humans
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Sixth Research Framework Programme of the European Union (Project INCA, LSHC-CT-2005-018704), a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholarship (GM) and a grant by the National Research and Technology Agency of Hungary (NKTH-STEMKILL OM-0010/2008 to GK. Vichem Chemie Ltd., provided support in the form of salaries for authors ZV, FW, LO and GK, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the author contributions' section.