Abstract
Previous work has implicated that the core protein of hepatitis C virus (HCV) may play a modulatory effect on NF-κB activation induced by TNF-α. However, it is unclear how HCV core protein modulates TNF-α-induced NK-κB activation. Here we show that overexpression of HCV core protein potentiates NF-κB activation induced by TNF-α. Expression of dominant negative form of TRAF2 inhibits the synergistic effects of HCV core protein on NF-κB activation, suggesting that HCV core protein potentiates NF-κB activation through TRAF2. Moreover, we demonstrate that HCV core protein potentiates TRAF2-mediated NF-κB activation via IKKβ. In addition, HCV core protein associates with TNF-R1-TRADD-TRAF2 signaling complex, resulting in synergistically activation of NF-κB induced by TNF-α. Thus, these observations indicate that HCV core protein may play an important role in the regulation of the cellular inflammatory and immune responses through NF-κB.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 15-19 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications |
| Volume | 284 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2001 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported in part by Molecular Medical Science Research Grant 02-02-A-02 and KOSEF Research Grant 1999-1-212-002-3. Y. Chung and S. Choi were supported by BK21 fellowship from the Ministry of Education. We thank Dr. H. Nakano for Flag-tagged IKKα/β and their mutant plasmids.
Keywords
- HCV core protein
- IKKβ
- NF-κB
- TNF-α
- TRAF2