Insights into intricacies of the Latent Membrane Protein-1 (LMP-1) in EBV-associated cancers

Abstract

Numerous lymphomas, carcinomas, and other disorders have been associated with Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection. EBV's carcinogenic potential can be correlated to latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1), which is essential for fibroblast and primary lymphocyte transformation. LMP1, a transmembrane protein with constitutive activity, belongs to the tumour necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily. LMP1 performs number of role in the life cycle of EBV and the pathogenesis by interfering with, reprogramming, and influencing a vast range of host cellular activities and functions that are getting well-known but still poorly understood. LMP1, pleiotropically perturbs, reprograms and balances a wide range of various processes of cell such as extracellular vesicles, epigenetics, ubiquitin machinery, metabolism, cell proliferation and survival, and also promotes oncogenic transformation, angiogenesis, anchorage-independent cell growth, metastasis and invasion, tumour microenvironment. By the help of various experiments, it is proven that EBV-encoded LMP1 activates multiple cell signalling pathways which affect antigen presentation, cell-cell interactions, chemokine and cytokine production. Therefore, it is assumed that LMP1 may perform majorly in EBV associated malignancies. For the development of novel techniques toward targeted therapeutic applications, it is essential to have a complete understanding of the LMP1 signalling landscape in order to identify potential targets. The focus of this review is on LMP1-interacting proteins and related signalling processes. We further discuss tactics for using the LMP1 protein as a potential therapeutic for cancers caused by the EBV.

Keywords: Cancer; Drug target; Epstein-Barr Virus; Latent membrane protein; Tumour necrosis factor receptor.