Abstract
Simian virus (SV40) T antigen shares many characteristics with adenovirus E1A which is known to induce apoptosis. To verify the potential of SV40 T antigen-mediated apoptosis, we stably expressed T antigen in immortalized human epithelial cells (Z172 and HaCaT). We found that SV40 T antigen could directly cause apoptosis in 22-27% of these cells under normal growth condition as measured by chromatin condensation and nucleosomal fragmentation. The apoptosis of HaCaT cells which contain mutant p53 suggests the p53-independent nature of T antigen-mediated apoptosis. T antigen- induced apoptosis was associated with increased expression of c-Jun protein. Moreover, the overexpression of c-jun alone in these cells also induced apoptosis, indicating that c-jun might play an important role in T antigen- induced apoptosis.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 521-529 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Virology |
Volume | 244 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 10 05 1998 |
Externally published | Yes |