There are more viruses on the planet than any other entity.
It is possible to prevent illness if you know what makes the Viruses tick. Basic questions about human health can be answered if we look at the way viruses have evolved.
A team at the University of Michigan Medical School is studying the cause of tumors in monkeys. In order to make more of itself, a DNA virus called SV40 burrows into a cell and then into its nucleus.
"SV40 is used as a tool for understanding how viruses that cause cancer in humans work," said Spriggs. Some viruses have been linked to cancer in people.
The study team wanted to know more about how the cell is attacked. A study done by Spriggs and his team at the time was done in the lab of Billy Tsai, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the college. Entry into the nucleus is the most important step in the process ofinfecting a person.
Spriggs explained that the nuclear pore complex is larger than the portal it uses to get into a cell. The transport of cellular cargo from the nucleus to the cell's cytoplasm is regulated by the nuclear pore complex. This passageway is used by many Viruses to enter the nucleus.
In a new study published in the journal PLOS Pathogens, it was found that the nuclear pore complex and LINC are used to connect the inside and outside of the nucleus. Unlike other viruses that grab onto projections from the nuclear pore complex, SV40 interacts with LINC first.
Spriggs notes that there is a difference in technique that underlies the ability to cause cancer. Scientists don't know how the two important cellular complexes interact with each other, but further research could help them understand it.
Spriggs said that the same pathways that are disrupted in cancer and other diseases are used by viruses. Understanding human biology can be improved by studying them.
Spriggs is studying the entry mechanism of human oncogenic viruses at the University of Michigan.
There are additional authors on this paper.
More information: Chelsey C. Spriggs et al, Components of the LINC and NPC complexes coordinately target and translocate a virus into the nucleus to promote infection, PLOS Pathogens (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010824 Journal information: PLoS Pathogens
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