BACKGROUNDHuman myxovirus resistant protein A (MxA), encoded by the myxovirus resistance 1 (Mx1) gene, is an interferon (IFN)-triggered dynamin-like multi-domain GTPase involved in innate immune responses against viral infections. Recent studies suggest that MxA is associated with several human cancers and may be a tumor suppressor and a promising biomarker for IFN therapy. Mx1 gene mutations in the coding region for MxA have been discovered in many types of cancer, suggesting potential biological associations between mutations in MxA protein and corresponding cancers. In this study, we performed a systematic analysis based on the crystal structures of MxA and elucidated how these mutations specifically affect the structure and therefore the function of MxA protein.

METHODSCancer-associated Mx1 mutations were collected and screened from the COSMIC database. Twenty-two unique mutations that cause single amino acid alterations in the MxA protein were chosen for the analysis. Amino acid sequence alignment was performed using Clustal W to check the conservation level of mutation sites in Mx proteins and dynamins. Structural analysis of the mutants was carried out with Coot. Structural models of selected mutants were generated by the SWISS-MODEL server for comparison with the corresponding non-mutated structures. All structural figures were generated using PyMOL.

RESULTSWe analyzed the conservation level of the single-point mutation sites and mapped them on different domains of MxA. Through individual structural analysis, we found that some mutations severely affect the stability and function of MxA either by disrupting the intra-/inter-molecular interactions supported by the original residues or by incurring unfavorable configuration alterations, whereas other mutations lead to gentle or no interference to the protein stability and function because of positions or polarity features. The potential clinical value of the mutations that lead to drastic influence on MxA protein is also assessed.

CONCLUSIONSAmong all of the reported tumor-associated single-point mutations, seven of them notably affect the structure and function of MxA and therefore deserve more attention with respect to potential clinical applications. Our research provides an example for systematic analysis and consequence evaluation of single-point mutations on a given cancer-related protein.