# Integrative transcriptomic and proteomic study of Zika viral infection reveals potential mechanisms for oncolytic therapy in neuroblastoma

## TL;DR

This study explores how the Zika virus can be used as a potential treatment for aggressive childhood neuroblastoma by analyzing its effects on cancer cells.

## Contribution

The study identifies specific molecular mechanisms and ZIKV strain (PRVABC59) most effective for oncolytic therapy in neuroblastoma.

## Key findings

- Most neuroblastoma cell lines are highly susceptible to ZIKV infection.
- ZIKV induces TNF signaling, lipid metabolism, and the Unfolded Protein Response while downregulating cell cycle processes.
- ZIKV relies on SREBP-regulated lipid metabolism and three key protein complexes for infection.

## Abstract

Background: Paediatric neuroblastoma and brain tumours account for a third of all childhood cancer-related mortality. High-risk neuroblastoma is highly aggressive and survival is poor despite intensive multi-modal therapies with significant toxicity. Novel therapies are desperately needed. The Zika virus (ZIKV) is neurotropic and there is growing interest in employing ZIKV as a potential therapy against paediatric nervous system tumours, including neuroblastoma.

Methods: Here, we perform extensive analysis of ZIKV infection studies to identify molecular mechanisms that may govern the oncolytic response in neuroblastoma cells. We summarise the neuroblastoma cell lines and ZIKV strains utilised and re-evaluate the infection data to deduce the susceptibility of neuroblastoma to the ZIKV oncolytic response. Integrating transcriptomics, interaction proteomics, dependency factor and compound datasets we show the involvement of multiple host systems during ZIKV infection.

Results: We identified that most paediatric neuroblastoma cell lines are highly susceptible to ZIKV infection and that the PRVABC59 ZIKV strain is the most promising candidate for neuroblastoma oncolytic virotherapy. ZIKV induces TNF signalling, lipid metabolism, the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR), and downregulates cell cycle and DNA replication processes. ZIKV is dependent on sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP)-regulated lipid metabolism and three protein complexes; V-ATPase, ER Membrane Protein Complex (EMC) and mammalian translocon. We propose ZIKV non-structural protein 4B (NS4B) as a likely mediator of ZIKVs interaction with IRE1-mediated UPR, lipid metabolism and mammalian translocon.

Conclusions: Our work provides a significant understanding of ZIKV infection in neuroblastoma cells, which will facilitate the progression of ZIKV-based oncolytic virotherapy through pre-clinical research and clinical trials.