1. Expression of a human polyomavirus oncoprotein and tumour suppressor proteins in medulloblastomas
- Author
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Kamel Khalili, C Lorenzana, Sidney Croul, J Baehring, Antonio Giordano, and L. Del Valle
- Subjects
Paper ,Adult ,Male ,Adolescent ,Tumor suppressor gene ,Antigens, Polyomavirus Transforming ,JC virus ,Retinoblastoma-Like Protein p107 ,Biology ,medicine.disease_cause ,Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Pathology and Forensic Medicine ,Fungal Proteins ,Antigen ,medicine ,Humans ,Genes, Tumor Suppressor ,Cerebellar Neoplasms ,Child ,neoplasms ,Aged ,Medulloblastoma ,P53 ,Retinoblastoma-Like Protein p130 ,Retinoblastoma ,Serine Endopeptidases ,Infant, Newborn ,Retinoblastoma protein ,Infant ,Nuclear Proteins ,Proteins ,Middle Aged ,T antigen ,Phosphoproteins ,medicine.disease ,JC Virus ,Virology ,Case-Control Studies ,Child, Preschool ,Cancer research ,biology.protein ,Immunohistochemistry ,Female ,Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ,biological phenomena, cell phenomena, and immunity ,Antibody - Abstract
Aims —Although the aetiology of medulloblastoma remains elusive, several lines of evidence suggest an association with the human neurotropic polyomavirus JC and its oncoprotein T antigen. The tumour forming properties of JC virus T antigen are the result, at least in part, of its ability to bind and inactivate tumour suppressor/cell cycle regulatory proteins, such as p53 and the retinoblastoma family of proteins. Methods —To examine potential relations between these factors, immunohistochemistry was used to determine associations between the T antigen and the expression of p53 and the retinoblastoma proteins pRb, p107, and Rb2/p130 in eight medulloblastomas. Results —Only the three medulloblastomas with T antigen expression also showed nuclear positivity with antibodies to p53. Although immunohistochemistry detected nuclear labelling for pRb in five of the cases, the three that were positive for T antigen showed the highest pRb labelling. The retinoblastoma related proteins p107 and Rb2/p130 were also immunopositive in most T antigen positive medulloblastomas. Double label immunohistochemistry also demonstrated p53 and pRb positivity in the same cells that were T antigen positive. Conclusions —These correlations suggest that associations between T antigen and p53 and/or T antigen and pRb occur in some of these tumours. These data provide indirect evidence that JC virus, acting through T antigen, might be involved in the formation and progression of medulloblastoma.