Activation of the Mitochondrial Apoptotic Signaling Platform during Rubella Virus Infection

Claus, Claudia; Manssen, Lena; Hübner, Denise; Roßmark, Sarah; Bothe, Viktoria; Petzold, Alice; Große, Claudia; Reins, Mareen; Mankertz, Annette; Frey, Teryl K.; Liebert, Uwe G.

Viruses 2015, 7, [6108] [6109] [6110] [6111] [6112] [6113] [6114] [6115] [6116] [6117] [6118] [6119] [6120] [6121] [6122] [6123] [6124] [6125] [6126] For subsequent experiments z-VAD-fmk was used at 12.5 µM such that the lowest possible effective concentration was used for its application at 24 hpi. While PFTµ and z-VAD-fmk were both applied at 24 hpi, 2 hpi was the selected application time point of NIM811, as this time point was slightly more effective than the one at 24 hpi. Figure 1B indicates that viral titer was not affected by application of these inhibitors, which otherwise could also result in a reduction of RV-associated cellular aberrations. The pharmacological compound PFTα blocks p53-mediated transcription [20] . PFTα was thus applied to RV-infected Vero cells to test the second branch of p53 activity, which is based on its function as a transcription factor. However, in contrast to PFTµ, PFTα had a noticeable negative effect on viral progeny generation ( Figure 1B) , hence it was excluded from subsequent experiments.