Abstract
The mechanism of how chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection leads to such a high rate of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unknown. We found that the PERK axis of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress elicited prominent nuclear translocation of Nrf2 in 100% of HCV infected hepatocytes. The sustained nuclear translocation of Nrf2 in chronically infected culture induces Mdm2-mediated retinoblastoma protein (Rb) degradation. Silencing PERK and Nrf2 restored Mdm2-mediated Rb degradation, suggesting that sustained activation of PERK/Nrf2 axis creates oncogenic stress in chronically infected HCV culture model. The activation of Nrf2 and its nuclear translocation were prevented by ER-stress and PERK inhibitors, suggesting that PERK axis is involved in the sustained activation of Nrf2 signaling during chronic HCV infection. Furthermore, we show that HCV clearance induced by interferon-α based antiviral normalized the ER-stress response and prevented nuclear translocation of Nrf2, whereas HCV clearance by DAAs combination does neither. In conclusion, we report here a novel mechanism for how sustained activation of PERK axis of ER-stress during chronic HCV infection activates oncogenic Nrf2 signaling that promotes hepatocyte survival and oncogenesis by inducing Mdm2-mediated Rb degradation.
Highlights
Concerns were raised regarding a number of figures, :
The Editors no longer have confidence in the reliability of the data reported in the article
Srikanta Dash does not agree with this retraction
Summary
OPEN Retraction Note: Activation of PERK‐Nrf2 oncogenic signaling promotes Mdm2‐mediated Rb degradation in persistently infected HCV culture Balart & Srikanta Dash Retraction of: Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-10087-6, published online 23 August 2017 The Editors have retracted this Article.
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