Molecular signatures associated with prostate cancer cell line (PC-3) exposure to inactivated Zika virus

The recent outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection associated with microcephaly cases has elicited much research on the mechanisms involved in ZIKV-host cell interactions. It has been described that Zika virus impairs cell growth, raising a hypothesis about its oncolytic potential against cancer cells. ZIKV tumor cell growth inhibition was later confirmed for glioblastoma. It was also demonstrated that an inactivated ZIKV prototype (ZVp) based on bacterial outer membrane vesicles has antiproliferative activity upon other cancer cell lines, such as PC-3 prostate cancer cell. This study aims at understanding the pathways that might be involved with the antiproliferative effect of Zika virus against prostate cancer cells. A metabolomic approach based on high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis led to the identification of 21 statistically relevant markers of PC-3 cells treated with ZVp. The markers were associated with metabolic alterations that trigger lipid remodeling, endoplasmic reticulum stress, inflammatory mediators, as well as disrupted porphyrin and folate metabolism. These findings highlight molecular signatures of ZVp-induced response that may be involved on cellular pathways triggered by its antiproliferative effect. To our knowledge, this is the first reported metabolomic assessment of ZIKV effect on prostate cancer cells, a promising topic for further research.