Induction of interferon-stimulated genes on the IL-4 response axis by Epstein-Barr virus infected human B cells; relevance to cellular transformation.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an oncogenic virus that is associated with the pathogenesis of several human lymphoid malignancies, including Hodgkin's lymphoma. Infection of normal resting B cells with EBV results in activation to lymphoblasts that are phenotypically similar to those generated by physiological stimulation with CD40L plus IL-4. One important difference is that infection leads to the establishment of permanently growing lymphoblastoid cell lines, whereas CD40L/IL-4 blasts have finite proliferation life-spans. To identify early events which might later determine why EBV infected blasts go on to establish transformed cell lines, we performed global transcriptome analyses on resting B cells and on EBV and CD40L/IL-4 blasts after 7 days culture. As anticipated, there was considerable overlap in the transcriptomes of the two types of lymphoblasts when compared to the original resting B cells, reflecting common changes associated with lymphocyte activation and proliferation.

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Smith N, Tierney R, Wei W, Vockerodt M, Murray PG, Woodman CB, Rowe M