Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is a highly pathogenic agent. Thus far, vaccines and specific antiviral therapies are not available against the threat of infection. Our knowledge regarding its pathogenesis is indeed limited, and thus, developing effective antiviral therapies is hampered. Several studies have demonstrated that the CCHFV infection has an impact on numerous signal transduction pathways. In parallel, the Wnt signaling pathway components are responsible for different important biological processes including cell fate determination, cell migration and cell polarity. Moreover, its implication among several virus infections has been proven, yet little is known in reference to which components of the Wnt pathway are being activated/inhibited as a response to the infection. Our aim was to elicit the influence of the CCHFV infection on adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells in vitro regarding the Wnt signaling pathway-related genes. Gene-expression changes of 92 Wnt-associated genes were examined 48 h post-infection. Furthermore, β-catenin levels were compared in the infected and uninfected cells. Significant changes were observed in the case of 13 genes. The majority of the upregulated genes are associated with the inhibition of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Additionally, infected cells expressed less β-catenin. Our findings suggest that CCHFV blocks the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Our study corroborates the link between CCHFV infection and the Wnt signaling pathways. In addition, it broadens our knowledge in the CCHFV pathomechanism.

中文翻译：

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克里米亚-刚果出血热病毒感染触发了Wnt信号通路抑制剂基因的上调。

克里米亚-刚果出血热病毒（CCHFV）是一种高致病性药物。到目前为止，还没有针对感染威胁的疫苗和特异性抗病毒疗法。我们对其发病机理的认识确实很有限，因此阻碍了开发有效的抗病毒治疗。多项研究表明，CCHFV感染对许多信号转导途径都有影响。同时，Wnt信号通路成分负责不同的重要生物学过程，包括细胞命运确定，细胞迁移和细胞极性。而且，已经证明了其在几种病毒感染中的含义，但是关于激活/抑制Wnt途径的哪些成分作为对感染的反应的知之甚少。我们的目的是就Wnt信号通路相关基因在体外引发CCHFV感染对腺癌人类肺泡基底上皮细胞的影响。感染后48小时检查了92个Wnt相关基因的基因表达变化。此外，比较了感染和未感染细胞中的β-catenin水平。在13个基因的情况下观察到显着变化。大多数上调的基因与Wnt /β-catenin信号的抑制有关。另外，被感染的细胞表达较少的β-连环蛋白。我们的发现表明CCHFV阻断Wnt /β-catenin途径。我们的研究证实了CCHFV感染与Wnt信号通路之间的联系。此外，它拓宽了我们对CCHFV发病机理的认识。