Persistence of Coxsackievirus B4 in Pancreatic β Cells Disturbs Insulin Maturation, Pattern of Cellular Proteins, and DNA Methylation.

Coxsackievirus-B4 (CV-B4) can persist in pancreatic cell lines and impair the phenoytpe and/or gene expressions in these cells; however, the models used to study this phenomenon did not produce insulin. Therefore, we investigated CV-B4 persistence and its consequences in insulin-producing pancreatic β cells. The insulin-secreting rat β cell line, INS-1, was infected with CV-B4. After lysis of a large part of the cell layer, the culture was still maintained and no additional cytopathic effect was observed. The amount of insulin in supernatants of cell cultures persistently infected with CV-B4 was not affected by the infection; in fact, a larger quantity of proinsulin was found. The mRNA expression of pro-hormone convertase 2, an enzyme involved in the maturation of proinsulin into insulin and studied using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, was inhibited in infected cultures. Further, the pattern of 47 cell proteins analyzed using Shotgun mass spectrometry was significantly modified. The DNA of persistently infected cell cultures was hypermethylated unlike that of controls. The persistent infection of INS-1 cells with CV-B4 had a deep impact on these cells, especially on insulin metabolism. Cellular changes caused by persistent CV-B4 infection of β cells can play a role in type 1 diabetes pathogenesis.