HIV's Nef interacts with β-catenin of the Wnt signaling pathway in HEK293 cells.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 24130899.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0077865 and PMC identifier PMC111683.
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Abstract
The Wnt signaling pathway is implicated in major physiologic cellular functions, such as proliferation, migration, cell fate specification, maintenance of pluripotency and induction of tumorigenicity. Proliferation and migration are important responses of T-cells, which are major cellular targets of HIV infection. Using an informatics screen, we identified a previously unsuspected interaction between HIV's Nef protein and β-catenin, a key component of the Wnt pathway. A segment in Nef contains identical amino acids at key positions and structurally mimics the β-catenin binding sites on endogenous β-catenin ligands. The interaction between Nef and β-catenin was confirmed in vitro and in a co-immunoprecipitation from HEK293 cells. Moreover, the introduction of Nef into HEK293 cells specifically inhibited a Wnt pathway reporter.