Analysis by live imaging of effects of the adenovirus E4orf4 protein on passage through mitosis of H1299 tumor cells.

The adenovirus E4orf4 protein expressed at high levels kills cancer cells but not normal human primary cells. Previous studies suggested that disruption of processes that regulate mitosis may underlie E4orf4 toxicity. Here we have used live imaging to show that E4orf4 induces a slowed defective transit through mitosis, exhibiting a delay or often failure in cytokinesis that may account for an accumulation of G(1) tetraploids in the population of dying E4orf4-expressing cells.