A role for protein kinase PKR in the mediation of Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein-1-induced IL-6 and IL-10 expression.

Expression of Epstein-Barr virus-encoded oncogenic latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) has been substantially associated with tumorigenic transformation in the virus-infected cells. The pathogenic complexity of LMP1 is partly due to the cytokine dysregulation including IL-6 and IL-10 in perturbing the host immune responses. Here we have identified an important signaling event mediated by a dsRNA-dependent serine/threonine protein kinase, PKR, in regulating LMP1-induced IL-6 and IL-10 expression. We first demonstrated that PKR plays a significant role in mediating LMP1-induced cytokine expression by using a PKR inhibitor 2-aminopurine, and the specific role of PKR involved was confirmed by the use of siRNA oligos targeting PKR and/or a dominant-negative PKR mutant. We next revealed that PKR activity mediates LMP1-enhanced NF-kappaB nuclear translocation resulting in cytokine induction. We further demonstrated at the chromatin level that LMP1 can significantly elevate the phosphorylation of histone H3 on serine 10 (Ser 10), and the process was dependent on PKR activity. Our findings thus suggest that PKR plays an important role in mediating the cytokine gene expression induced by LMP1 through NF-kappaB activation and histone H3 Ser 10 phosphorylation.