Productive Infection of Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines with Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV). 2021

Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
Department of Biology, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. There are many known risk factors for breast cancer, but the role of infectious disease remains unclear. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a widespread herpesvirus that usually causes little disease. Because HCMV has been detected in breast tumor biopsy samples and is frequently transmitted via human breast milk, we investigated HCMV replication in breast tumor cells. Four human breast cancer cell lines with different expression profiles for the key diagnostic markers of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), were infected with a bacterial artificial chromosome-derived HCMV clinical strain TB40/E tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP). Fluorescence microscopy confirmed that all four breast cancer cell lines supported virus entry. RNA was isolated from infected cells and the expression of immediate early (UL123), early (UL54), and late (UL111A) genes was confirmed using PCR. Viral proteins were detected by immunoblotting, and viral progeny were produced during the infection of breast tumor cells, as evidenced by subsequent infection of fibroblasts with culture supernatants. These results demonstrate that breast tumor cells support productive HCMV infection and could indicate that HCMV replication may play a role in breast cancer progression.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries

Related Publications

Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
January 2013, Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.),
Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
January 2019, The new microbiologica,
Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
July 1999, Ceska a slovenska oftalmologie : casopis Ceske oftalmologicke spolecnosti a Slovenske oftalmologicke spolecnosti,
Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
January 2017, Deutsches Arzteblatt international,
Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
December 2006, Journal of virology,
Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
February 2008, Virus research,
Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
January 1987, Journal of virology,
Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
April 1985, Lancet (London, England),
Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
May 2015, Folia microbiologica,
Kaitlin M Branch, and Erica C Garcia, and Yin Maggie Chen, and Matthew McGregor, and Mikayla Min, and Rachel Prosser, and Natalia Whitney, and Juliet V Spencer
June 2010, Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology,
Copied contents to your clipboard!