Viruses can affect us in more ways than make us sick. These often contagious microorganisms upset the delicate reaction of our normal cells by forming and emitting stress granules within our cells. This is done by the inactivation of G3PB, a protein that is usually responsible for keeping out stress granules. With the advent and modernization of high powered brightfield compound microscopes and better equipped research laboratories, studies are being performed to further find out about these stress granules and how they are potentially detrimental to our cells.
Researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, decided to understand the role of stress granules, which are made by the cell when it is attacked by stressful situations like lack of nutrients or viral infection. With the aid of powerful brightfield microscopes and other advanced tools, they found that when the cell suffers some damage, it ceases to expand. Protein synthesis, which involves messenger RNA’s genetic code being converted into proteins to carry our normal cellular functions are stopped and all kind of activities within the cell are ceased until the conditions of the cell are better. It is believed that the messenger RNA is stored within these stress granules.
The researchers used the poliovirus infection, because when viewed under brightfield compound microscopes, its structure is similar to most kind of viruses, therefore it was used as a prototype. When the researchers used this kind of virus, they found that the stress granules were fashioned early, but as the viral infection persists, the granules tended to disperse. The protein that is critical in this case is G3BP, is actually sliced by the virus. The researchers found that as normal human cells respond to a viral infection, the virus in return closes that response. The result is that mRNA is not translated into the necessary protein for the complete functioning of the cell and the cell eventually expires. Many viruses have been tested in this experiment as well, and they similarly affect the cells in the same way, but the poliovirus is believed to have evolved to especially target the protein G3BP.
So the scientists went about to try to change the G3BP, to make it more resistant to effects of the virus. The protein was laboratory altered, making it defiant to viral cleaving elements. The researchers found that this form of G3BP allows stress granules to form, but does not allow the virus to continue growing in the cells.
This research is important to note in the medical industry, as this can be one way of strengthening our immune systems from the harmful effects of viral infections. In some cases, like HIV, the virus us incurable. Some viruses, for example, the human papilloma virus or HPV is known to cause cervical cancer. With the cultivation and progress of this experiment, it is possible to create an immunization that prevents the virus to replicate within normal healthy body cells. The answers derived from these medical studies may not help in the search for a cure, but it has potential to be a preventive form of treatment.