Functional activation of the long terminal repeat of human T-cell leukemia virus type I by a trans-acting factor.

Abstract

Promoter function for gene expression of the long terminal repeat (LTR) of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) was studied by constructing plasmids containing the LTR sequence. The gene encoding chloramphenicol acetyltransferase

Functional interaction of the HTLV-1 transactivator Tax with activating transcription factor-4 (ATF4)

“…The Tax protein of HTLV-1 is a potent transactivator of viral gene expression (Cann et al, 1985;Felber et al, 1985;Fujisawa et al, 1985) and is capable of immortalizing human T lymphocytes in vitro (Grassmann et al, 1989;Tanaka et al, 1990). Tax is a 40 kDa nuclear protein that activates viral transcription through an enhancer element (Tax responsive element: TRE) consisting of three 21 bp repeats located within the HTLV-1 LTR (Sodroski et al, 1984;Felber et al, 1985;Brady et al, 1987;Paskalis et al, 1986).…”

A novel single cell PCR assay: detection of human T lymphotropic virus type I DNA in lymphocytes of patients with adult T cell leukemia

“…A regulatory gene, tax, which is located in the pX region of the HTLV-I genome, was identified as the gene responsible for viral replication, 14,15 and the abnormal growth and immortalization of HTLV-I-infected T cells. 16 Recently, defective Fourteen single ATL cells were isolated from case 2 (acute type) and subjected to single cell PCR analysis.…”

Human T lymphotropic virus type I in arthropathy and autoimmune disorders

“…Moreover, the half-life study of cfos, IL-lp, and 1L-6 mRNA also suggests that HTLV-I acts as a transcriptional trans-activator in synoviocytes. Since it is well known that the Tax of this virus is a transcriptional trans-activator, it may behave as a transactivator in synoviocytes to enhance the LTR and a number of cellular genes, including several cytokines associated with synovial cell proliferation, such as TNFa, IL-lp, and IL-6 (28)(29)(30).…”