Modulation of PI3K/Akt pathway by E1a mediates sensitivity to cisplatin

In order to investigate the molecular mechanisms implicated in the induction of chemo sensitivity by adenovirus E1a gene expression, we decided to investigate which signal transduction pathways could be affected by the E1a gene in Human Normal Fibroblast (IMR90). No effect was observed in SAPK pathways (p38MAPK and JNK), but E1a was able to affect the Akt activation mediated by insulin. This result was confirmed by transient transfection experiments performed in Cos-7 cells and also observed in other transformed cell lines such as A431. Furthermore, E1a expression induces a decrease in the basal status of Akt activity. Finally we demonstrated that E1a is able to block the Akt activation mediated by cisplatin and correlates with a sensitive phenotype. In summary, our data demonstrate that specific inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway mediates some of the biological properties of E1a such as induction of chemosensitivity.