• Home
  • AI/ML & Advanced Analytics
  • Recombinant measles virus equipped with BNiP3, a pro-apoptotic gene, targets β-catenin pathway in triple negative breast cancer cells

Oncolytic virotherapy is an emerging cancer therapy using genetically modified viruses. We previously reported engineering of measles virus with BNiP3, a proapoptotic gene for oncolytic purposes. The recombinant virus had shown promising results in breast cancer cells with a bias towards TNBC, an invasive and an aggressive subtype. Here, we investigated the mechanistic insights of anti-tumor effects induced by the recombinant virus. Initially, TNBC and non-TNBC tumor cell lines were compared bioinformatically using the available gene expression data through protein-protein interaction network using different topological properties. Four hub genes involved in tumor development and progression were identified to be the top genes in both the data sets. Of which, CTNNB1 gene encoding beta-catenin was found to be the significant one; as beta-catenin pathway is known to be a driver of tumor cell invasion and migration, the impact of the virus on this pathway was investigated in breast tumor cells. The results had demonstrated a notable decrease in beta-catenin expression and its downstream targets, cyclin D1, MMP7 reducing the migration potential of TNBC cells following virus infection. These findings suggest that the recombinant measles virus could be one of the effective treatment modalities to target invasive TNBC tumors. In vivo validation of engineered virus is ongoing to explore the therapeutic application of this virus.

Subscribe for Updates

Copyright 2025 dijee Intelligence Ltd.   dijee Intelligence Ltd. is a private limited company registered in England and Wales at Media House, Sopers Road, Cuffley, Hertfordshire, EN6 4RY, UK registration number 16808844