Effect of HCMV IE86 on the Expression of p21 in Malignant Glioma Cells

Abstract

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) can induce malignant transformation of tumor cells and inhibit tumor cell apoptosis, but whether the key immediate regulatory protein IE86 encoded by HCMV plays a key role in this process remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of IE86 on p21 expression of glioblastoma cells in genetically modified glioblastoma mice. The expression of IE86 in genetically modified mice was identified by PCR. Transgenic mice were tumor-bearing by glioma cell line GL261. The expression of p21 protein was detected by Western blot. The results showed that the IE86 gene-modified mouse model was successfully constructed. Compared with the IE86-negative group, the expression level of p21 was decreased in the IE86-positive group. The above results indicate that IE86 is continuously expressed in genetically modified mice, but the indicator p21 of p53 transcriptional activity is downregulated, and this suggests that IE86 can increase the anti-apoptotic ability of malignant glioma cells.