Anti-apoptotic role of BARF1 in gastric cancer cells.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection has been implicated in the carcinogenesis of several types of human cancer, including gastric cancer. In contrast to two other EBV-related malingancies, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and Hodgkins Lympomain which the latent membrane protein (LMP)-1 is often detected, in gastric cancer, BARF1, one of the early EBV genes, is frequently expressed in EBV-positive specimens. This indicates that expression of BARF1 may play a positive role in the development of gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of BARF1 expression in gastric cancer cells. First, a retroviral vector containing the full length BARF1 gene was transfected into an EBV negative gastric cancer cell line, BGC823, and stable transfectants expressing ectopic BARF1 were generated. Microarray analysis was then performed and gene expression profiles were analysed and compared between the cells expressing ectopic BARF1 and the vector control. In addition, the effect of BARF1 on gastric cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis was investigated by MTT assay, DAPI staining, flow cytometry as well as Western blotting. We found that expression of BARF1 in gastric cancer cells led to significant alterations of gene expression, especially genes related to proliferation and apoptosis. In addition, the BARF1 expressing cells were more resistant to apoptosis induced by a commonly used anticancer drug, taxol. This chemo-protective effect of BARF1 was associated with increased Bcl-2 and Bax ratio and decreased expression of cleaved PARP, but not alterations in cell proliferation. Our results suggest that BARF1 expression in gastric cancer cells may provide a protective role against apoptosis through an increased Bcl-2 to Bax ratio, thus promoting cancer cell survival.