T cell receptor signaling pathway is overexpressed in CD4+ T cells from HAM/TSP individuals

Abstract

Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a human retrovirus related to the chronic neuroinflammatory disease HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). CD4(+) T cells activation appears to play a key role on HTLV-1 infection. Here we investigated the expression of genes associated to T cell activation CD3e molecule, epsilon (CD3ɛ), lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase (LCK), vav 1 guanine nucleotide exchange factor (VAV1), and zeta-chain (TCR) associated protein kinase 70kDa (ZAP70) on T lymphocytes of HTLV-1-infected individuals and compared to healthy uninfected individuals (CT). We observed that CD3ɛ, LCK, ZAP70, and VAV1 gene expression were increased in CD4(+) T cells from HAM/TSP group compared to HTLV-1 asymptomatic patients (HAC). Moreover, ZAP70 and VAV1 were also upregulated in HAM/TSP compared to CT group. We detected a positive correlation among all these genes. We also observed that CD3ɛ, LCK, and VAV1 genes had a positive correlation with the proviral load (PVL) and Tax expression. These results suggest that PVL and Tax protein could drive CD3ɛ, LCK, and VAV1 gene expression in CD4(+) T cells, and these genes function on a synchronized way on the CD4(+) T cell activation. The elucidation of the mechanisms underlying T cell receptor signaling pathway is of considerable interest and might lead to new insights into the mechanism of HAM/TSP.

LCK as a Potential Therapeutic Target for Acute Rejection after Kidney Transplantation: A Bioinformatics Clue

“…In the cocitation network, CD3D, CD3E, and CD3G, which are compositions of CD3 complex of TCR, interacted with each other to affect the assembly of TCR membrane complex and disturb T-cell responsiveness [ 27 ], especially CD3E [ 28 ]. After TCR engagement, the phosphorylation of CD3 immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs of CD3E in CD3 complex is combined with activated LCK, which is also called Src kinase lymphocyte kinase [ 29 ]. LCK is a member of protein tyrosine kinase involved in TCR signal transduction [ 30 ].…”