Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 14, 2016; 22(14): 3746-3757
Published online Apr 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i14.3746
S-adenosyl-L-methionine modifies antioxidant-enzymes, glutathione-biosynthesis and methionine adenosyltransferases-1/2 in hepatitis C virus-expressing cells
Sonia Amelia Lozano-Sepulveda, Eduardo Bautista-Osorio, Jose Angel Merino-Mascorro, Marta Varela-Rey, Linda Elsa Muñoz-Espinosa, Paula Cordero-Perez, María Luz Martinez-Chantar, Ana Maria Rivas-Estilla
Sonia Amelia Lozano-Sepulveda, Eduardo Bautista-Osorio, Jose Angel Merino-Mascorro, Ana Maria Rivas-Estilla, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon 64460, Mexico
Marta Varela-Rey, María Luz Martinez-Chantar, Metabolomic Unit, CIC bioGUNE, CIBERehd, Parque Tecnológico de Bizkaia, 48160 Derio, Spain
Linda Elsa Muñoz-Espinosa, Paula Cordero-Perez, Liver Unit, School of Medicine and Hospital Universitario, Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon 64460, Mexico
Author contributions: Lozano-Sepulveda SA performed the majority of experiments, analyzed the data and partially wrote the paper; Bautista-Osorio E, Varela-Rey M, Martinez-Chantar ML and Merino-Mascorro JA performed additional molecular investigations and analyzed data; Muñoz-Espinosa L and Cordero-Perez P partially designed and coordinated the research; Rivas-Estilla AM designed, coordinated the research and wrote the paper.
Supported by CONACYT-Mexico, grant register CB2010-01-155082 to Rivas-Estilla AM.
Institutional review board statement: In this study, we performed all experiments in vitro using cell lines and did not include humans or animals; therefore this requirement does not apply.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All listed authors in this manuscript do not have financial relationships to disclose.
Data sharing statement: We did not include data sharing from other researchers.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Ana Maria Rivas-Estilla, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, Francisco I. Madero y Ave. Gonzalitos s/n Col. Mitras Centro, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon 64460, Mexico. amrivas1@yahoo.ca
Telephone: +52-81-83337747
Received: December 26, 2015
Peer-review started: December 28, 2015
First decision: January 28, 2016
Revised: February 14, 2016
Accepted: March 1, 2016
Article in press: March 2, 2016
Published online: April 14, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) downregulates hepatitis C virus (HCV) expression by unknown mechanisms. We evaluated the effects of SAM on viral expression using an HCV subgenomic replicon cell culture system. We observed that SAM induces a synergic antiviral effect with standard interferon (IFN) treatment independently of IFN signaling pathways; it does not modify viral RNA stability, but it needs cellular translation machinery in order to decrease HCV expression. In addition, results demonstrated that a likely mechanism(s) by which SAM decreases HCV expression could involve modulating antioxidant enzyme systems, restoring biosynthesis of glutathione and switching methionine adenosyltransferase 1 (MAT1)/MAT2 turnover in HCV expressing cells.