Human oncogenic herpesvirus latency proteins activate NEK2 to promote chromosomal instability and tumorigenesis - PubMed
6 hours ago
- #NEK2
- #Oncogenic Herpesviruses
- #Chromosomal Instability
- NEK2 is a serine/threonine kinase crucial for cell cycle regulation and is often overexpressed in cancers, correlating with poor prognosis.
- EBV and KSHV, oncogenic herpesviruses, induce NEK2 expression during primary and latent infection phases, promoting chromosomal instability.
- Increased NEK2 expression leads to chromosomal nondisjunction, aneuploidy, and uncontrolled cell proliferation.
- EBV's EBNA2 and KSHV's LANA proteins upregulate NEK2 by modulating RBP-Jκ activities at the NEK2 promoter.
- Targeting NEK2 inhibits EBV- and KSHV-mediated tumor progression, suggesting its role as a therapeutic target in virus-induced oncogenesis.