News
Eph-family receptors can mediate cell-to-cell transfer of Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) into B cells
The human tumorvirus KSHV not only causes Kaposi’s sarcoma but also B cell lymphomas. Using a model B cell line we could show that a member of the Eph family of receptors, EphA7, and most likely also other Eph family receptors mediate infectious transfer of KSHV from virus producing cells to B cells, so called cell-to-cell transfer or cell-associated virus spread. We analyzed this route of infection as B cells are refractory or barely susceptible to infection with KSHV as “free virus”, but become very efficiently infected through cell-to-cell transmission. We further demonstrated that Eph family receptors, in particular EphA2 and EphA7, are highly expressed in KSHV-positive primary effusion lymphoma cell lines, which is highly suggestive of a causative role in the infection of the cells that give rise to primary effusion lymphoma.