VIRUS MIMICS HUMAN PROTEIN TO HIJACK CELL DIVISION MACHINERY
Talk about being masters of deception. Viruses were discovered using compound monocular microscopes to be imitating or impersonating good host’s cells in order to help the former grow and spread, only to betray the latter in the end. They do that because they could not reproduce on their own so they rely much on co-opting their host’s cellular machinery. They are intracellular parasites, like an occupying army taking over a local factory. Moreover, these viruses are considered to be far more intelligent than humans; knowing a lot about cells than most human beings do. This seems to be very understandable because these viruses depend on cells to live and survive. This was what a new study had found out in the May 10 issue of Science Daily.
In the article, a virus, human cytomegalovirus or HCMV, seen under compound monocular microscopes could mimic a common regulatory protein to hijack normal cell growth machinery, in the process, interrupting a cell’s primary anti-cancer mechanism.
According to researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Harvard Medical School, a viral protein named UL97 eyed through compound monocular microscopes, disguises as a normal regulatory enzyme in order to modify a tumor-suppressing protein in human cells. Moreover, these researchers also found out that viruses could cause cell growth and division uncontrollably. These viruses can be viewed clearly using compound monocular microscopes. Needless to say, uncontrolled cell increase could lead to cancer and other disorders. This is the reason why, cells normally have tight regulatory mechanisms to limit multiplication.
A protein called the retinoblastoma is one of the most important cellular control mechanisms. This protein slows cell growth and prevents tumor cells from growing out of control. When a person has cancer, the retinoblastoma pathway is being mutated. However, this disruption is a blessing for viruses because, according to Robert Kalejta, an assistant professor in the UW-Madison Institute for Molecular Virology and McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, viruses are especially good at overriding or bypassing built in control mechanisms. He added that UL97 shared the same activities as the cellular protein but it doesn’t have all of the control mechanisms. On the other hand, HCMV would take over and steal the cell’s machinery to reproduce itself once a host cell is geared to grow.
The article also cited other potential clinical applications in the future. Kalejta expressed that the research was indeed beneficial. According to him, they are studying on how cells work. They are also learning about a virus that is a basis for human sickness. They are hopeful that they could find a cure for those infections and help patients in the process. It has been stated that HCMV infection is very common and has been associated in some cancers. UL97-like proteins were also discovered in the seven human herpes viruses, some of which were also connected to cancers. In all of these experiments, compound monocular microscopes had proved to be very useful and helpful. Original article can be found here
