Transcriptome Analysis of Natural Killer Cells in Response to Newcastle Disease Virus Infected Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Juanjuan Huang; Tingting Zheng; Ying Liang; Ying Qin; Xing Wu; Xiaohui Fan

doi:10.3390/genes14040888

Transcriptome Analysis of Natural Killer Cells in Response to Newcastle Disease Virus Infected Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Genes (Basel). 2023 Apr 10;14(4):888. doi: 10.3390/genes14040888.

Authors

Juanjuan Huang^{1

2}, Tingting Zheng², Ying Liang^{2

3}, Ying Qin², Xing Wu², Xiaohui Fan^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Targeting Oncology, National Center for International Research of Bio-Targeting Theranostics, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Bio-Targeting Theranostics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Targeting Tumor Diagnosis and Therapy, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China.
² Department of Microbiology, School of Preclinical Medicine, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Basic Research on Regional Disease, Education Department of Guangxi, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530021, China.

Abstract

When tumor cells are infected by the Newcastle disease virus (NDV), the lysis of tumor cells by natural killer (NK) cells is enhanced, which may be related to the enhanced NK cell activation effect. To better understand the intracellular molecular mechanisms involved in NK cell activation, the transcriptome profiles of NK cells stimulated by NDV-infected hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells (NDV group) and control (NC group, NK cells stimulated by HCC cells) were analyzed. In total, we identified 1568 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the NK cells of the NDV group compared to the control, including 1389 upregulated and 179 downregulated genes. Functional analysis showed that DEGs were enriched in the immune system, signal transmission, cell growth, cell death, and cancer pathways. Notably, 9 genes from the IFN family were specifically increased in NK cells upon NDV infection and identified as potential prognosis markers for patients with HCC. A qRT-PCR experiment was used to confirm the differential expression of IFNG and the other 8 important genes. The results of this study will improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of NK cell activation.

Keywords: Newcastle disease virus; cancer therapy; hepatocellular carcinoma; immunity; natural killer cell.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* / pathology
Cell Line, Tumor
Gene Expression Profiling
Humans
Killer Cells, Natural / metabolism
Liver Neoplasms* / pathology
Newcastle disease virus

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi (No.2018GXNSFDA281043), the Scientific and Technological Innovation Major Base of Guangxi (No.2022-36-Z05/GXSWBX201803), the Promotion Project of the Basic Ability of Young and Middle-Aged Teachers in Colleges and Universities in Guangxi (No.2022KY1672), and the Research Project of the Faculty of Chinese Medicine Science at the Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine (No. 2022MS007).