Measurement of BK-polyomavirus Non-Coding Control Region Driven Transcriptional Activity Via Flow Cytometry

Polyomaviruses, like the BK-polyomavirus (BKPyV), can cause severe pathologies in immunocompromised patients. However, since highly effective antivirals are currently not available, methods measuring the impact of potential antiviral agents are required. Here, a dual fluorescence reporter that allows the analysis of the BKPyV non-coding control-region (NCCR) driven early and late promoter activity was constructed to quantify the impact of potential antiviral drugs on viral gene expression via tdTomato and eGFP expression. In addition, by cloning BKPyV-NCCR amplicons which in this protocol have been exemplarily obtained from the blood-derived DNA of immunocompromised renal transplanted patients, the impact of NCCR-rearrangements on viral gene expression can be determined. Following cloning of the patient derived amplicons, HEK293T cells were transfected with the reporter-plasmids, and treated with potential antiviral agents. Subsequently, cells were subjected to FACS-analysis for measuring mean fluorescence intensities 72 h post transfection. To also test the analysis of drugs that have a potential cell cycle inhibiting effect, only transfected and thus fluorescent cells are used. Since this assay is performed in large T Antigen expressing cells, the impact of early and late expression can be analyzed in a mutually independent manner.