Nuclear translocation of EGF receptor regulated by Epstein-Barr virus encoded latent membrane protein 1

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) encoded latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) is considered to be the major oncogenic protein of EBV encoded proteins, and also it has always been the core of the oncogenic mechanism of EBV. Traditional receptor theory demonstrates that cell surface receptors exert biological functions on the membrane, which neither enter into the nucleus nor directly affect the transcription of the target genes. But, advanced studies on nuclear translocation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family have greatly developed our knowledge of the biological function of cell surface receptors. In this study, we used Tet-on LMP1 HNE2 cell line as a cell model, which is a dual-stable LMP1 integrated NPC cell line and the expression of LMP1 in which could be regulated by Tet system. We found that LMP1 could regulate the nuclear translocation of EGFR in a dose-dependent manner from both quantitative and qualitative levels through the Western blot analysis and the immunofluorescent analysis with a laser scanning confocal microscope. We further demonstrated that the nuclear localization sequence of EGFR played some roles in the location of the protein within the nucleus under LMP1 regulation, and the nuclear accumulation of EGFR regulated by LMP1 was in a ligand-independent manner. These findings provide a novel view that the regulation of LMP1 on the nuclear translocation of EGFR is critical for the process of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.