scholarly journals Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Expressing Nonoverlapping Tax and Rex Genes Replicates and Immortalizes Primary Human T Lymphocytes but Fails To Replicate and Persist In Vivo

2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (23) ◽  
pp. 14473-14481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ihab Younis ◽  
Brenda Yamamoto ◽  
Andrew Phipps ◽  
Patrick L. Green

ABSTRACT Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is an oncogenic retrovirus associated primarily with adult T-cell leukemia and neurological disease. HTLV-1 encodes the positive trans-regulatory proteins Tax and Rex, both of which are essential for viral replication. Tax activates transcription initiation from the viral long terminal repeat and modulates the transcription or activity of a number of cellular genes. Rex regulates gene expression posttranscriptionally by facilitating the cytoplasmic expression of incompletely spliced viral mRNAs. Tax and Rex mutants have been identified that have defective activities or impaired biochemical properties associated with their function. To ultimately determine the contribution of specific protein activities on viral replication and cellular transformation of primary T cells, mutants need to be characterized in the context of an infectious molecular clone. Since the tax and rex genes are in partially overlapping reading frames, mutation in one gene frequently disrupts the other, confounding interpretation of mutational analyses in the context of the virus. Here we generated and characterized a unique proviral clone (H1IT) in which the tax and rex genes were separated by expressing Tax from an internal ribosome entry site. We showed that H1IT expresses both functional Tax and Rex. In short- and long-term coculture assays, H1IT was competent to infect and immortalize primary human T cells similar to wild-type HTLV-1. In contrast, H1IT failed to efficiently replicate and persist in inoculated rabbits, thus emphasizing the importance of temporal and quantitative regulation of specific mRNA for viral survival in vivo.

2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (7) ◽  
pp. 3760-3772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda R. Panfil ◽  
Nathan J. Dissinger ◽  
Cory M. Howard ◽  
Brandon M. Murphy ◽  
Kristina Landes ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTHuman T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and type 2 (HTLV-2) are highly related retroviruses that transform T cellsin vitrobut have distinct pathological outcomesin vivo. HTLV-1 encodes a protein from the antisense strand of its proviral genome, the HTLV-1 basic leucine zipper factor (HBZ), which inhibits Tax-1-mediated viral transcription and promotes cell proliferation, a high proviral load, and persistencein vivo. In adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) cell lines and patient T cells,hbzis often the only viral gene expressed. The antisense strand of the HTLV-2 proviral genome also encodes a protein termed APH-2. Like HBZ, APH-2 is able to inhibit Tax-2-mediated viral transcription and is detectable in most primary lymphocytes from HTLV-2-infected patients. However, unlike HBZ, the loss of APH-2in vivoresults in increased viral replication and proviral loads, suggesting that HBZ and APH-2 modulate the virus and cellular pathways differently. Herein, we examined the effect of APH-2 on several known HBZ-modulated pathways: NF-κB (p65) transactivation, transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling, and interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF-1) transactivation. Like HBZ, APH-2 has the ability to inhibit p65 transactivation. Conversely, HBZ and APH-2 have divergent effects on TGF-β signaling and IRF-1 transactivation. Quantitative PCR and protein half-life experiments revealed a substantial disparity between HBZ and APH-2 transcript levels and protein stability, respectively. Taken together, our data further elucidate the functional differences between HBZ and APH-2 and how these differences can have profound effects on the survival of infected cells and, ultimately, pathogenesis.IMPORTANCEHuman T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and type 2 (HTLV-2) are highly related retroviruses that have distinct pathological outcomes in infected hosts. Functional comparisons of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 proteins provide a better understanding about how HTLV-1 infection is associated with disease and HTLV-2 infection is not. The HTLV genome antisense-strand geneshbzandaph-2are often the only viral genes expressed in HTLV-infected T cells. Previously, our group found that HTLV-1 HBZ and HTLV-2 APH-2 had distinct effectsin vivoand hypothesized that the differences in the interactions of HBZ and APH-2 with important cell signaling pathways dictate whether cells undergo proliferation, apoptosis, or senescence. Ultimately, these functional differences may affect how HTLV-1 causes disease but HTLV-2 generally does not. In the current study, we compared the effects of HBZ and APH-2 on several HTLV-relevant cellular pathways, including the TGF-β signaling, NF-κB activation, and IRF-1 transactivation pathways.


2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (14) ◽  
pp. 7728-7735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianxin Ye ◽  
Li Xie ◽  
Patrick L. Green

ABSTRACT Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and HTLV-2 are distinct oncogenic retroviruses that infect several cell types but display their biological and pathogenic activity only in T cells. Previous studies have indicated that in vivo HTLV-1 has a preferential tropism for CD4+ T cells, whereas HTLV-2 in vivo tropism is less clear but appears to favor CD8+ T cells. Both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells are susceptible to HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 infection in vitro, and HTLV-1 has a preferential immortalization and transformation tropism of CD4+ T cells, whereas HTLV-2 immortalizes and transforms primarily CD8+ T cells. The molecular mechanism that determines this tropism of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 has not been determined. HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 carry the tax and rex transregulatory genes in separate but partially overlapping reading frames. Since Tax has been shown to be critical for cellular transformation in vitro and interacts with numerous cellular processes, we hypothesized that the viral determinant of transformation tropism is encoded by tax. Using molecular clones of HTLV-1 (Ach) and HTLV-2 (pH6neo), we constructed recombinants in which tax and overlapping rex genes of the two viruses were exchanged. p19 Gag expression from proviral clones transfected into 293T cells indicated that both recombinants contained functional Tax and Rex but with significantly altered activity compared to the wild-type clones. Stable transfectants expressing recombinant viruses were established, irradiated, and cocultured with peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Both recombinants were competent to transform T lymphocytes with an efficiency similar to that of the parental viruses. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that HTLV-1 and HTLV-1/TR2 had a preferential tropism for CD4+ T cells and that HTLV-2 and HTLV-2/TR1 had a preferential tropism for CD8+ T cells. Our results indicate that tax/rex in different genetic backgrounds display altered functional activity but ultimately do not contribute to the different in vitro transformation tropisms. This first study with recombinants between HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 is the initial step in elucidating the different pathobiologies of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2.


2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (19) ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica Galli ◽  
Christopher C. Nixon ◽  
Natasa Strbo ◽  
Maria Artesi ◽  
Maria F. de Castro-Amarante ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTHuman T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the ethological agent of adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) and a number of lymphocyte-mediated inflammatory conditions, including HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. HTLV-1orf-Iencodes two proteins, p8 and p12, whose functions in humans are to counteract innate and adaptive responses and to support viral transmission. However, thein vivorequirements fororf-Iexpression vary in different animal models. In macaques, the ablation oforf-Iexpression by mutation of its ATG initiation codon abolishes the infectivity of the molecular clone HTLV-1p12KO. In rabbits, HTLV-1p12KOis infective and persists efficiently. We used humanized mouse models to assess the infectivity of both wild-type HTLV-1 (HTLV-1WT) and HTLV-1p12KO. We found that NOD/SCID/γC−/−c-kit+mice engrafted with human tissues 1 day after birth (designated NSG-1d mice) were highly susceptible to infection by HTLV-1WT, with a syndrome characterized by the rapid polyclonal proliferation and infiltration of CD4+CD25+T cells into vital organs, weight loss, and death. HTLV-1 clonality studies revealed the presence of multiple clones of low abundance, confirming the polyclonal expansion of HTLV-1-infected cellsin vivo. HTLV-1p12KOinfection in a bone marrow-liver-thymus (BLT) mouse model prone to graft-versus-host disease occurred only following reversion of theorf-Iinitiation codon mutation within weeks after exposure and was associated with high levels of HTLV-1 DNA in blood and the expansion of CD4+CD25+T cells. Thus, the incomplete reconstitution of the human immune system in BLT mice may provide a window of opportunity for HTLV-1 replication and the selection of viral variants with greater fitness.IMPORTANCEHumanized mice constitute a useful model for studying the HTLV-1-associated polyclonal proliferation of CD4+T cells and viral integration sites in the human genome. The rapid death of infected animals, however, appears to preclude the clonal selection typically observed in human ATLL, which normally develops in 2 to 5% of individuals infected with HTLV-1. Nevertheless, the expansion of multiple clones of low abundance in these humanized mice mirrors the early phase of HTLV-1 infection in humans, providing a useful model to investigate approaches to inhibit virus-induced CD4+T cell proliferation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (17) ◽  
pp. 8442-8455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meihong Liu ◽  
Liangpeng Yang ◽  
Ling Zhang ◽  
Baoying Liu ◽  
Randall Merling ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Infection by the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is thought to cause dysregulated T-cell proliferation, which in turn leads to adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Early cellular changes after HTLV-1 infection have been difficult to study due to the poorly infectious nature of HTLV-1 and the need for cell-to-cell contact for HTLV-1 transmission. Using a series of reporter systems, we show that HeLa cells cease proliferation within one or two division cycles after infection by HTLV-1 or transduction of the HTLV-1 tax gene. HTLV-1-infected HeLa cells, like their tax-transduced counterparts, expressed high levels of p21 CIP1/WAF1 and p27 KIP1 , developed mitotic abnormalities, and became arrested in G1 in senescence. In contrast, cells of a human osteosarcoma lineage (HOS) continued to divide after HTLV-1 infection or Tax expression, albeit at a reduced growth rate and with mitotic aberrations. Unique to HOS cells is the dramatic reduction of p21 CIP1/WAF1 and p27 KIP1 expression, which is in part associated with the constitutive activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (Akt) pathway. The loss of p21 CIP1/WAF1 and p27 KIP1 in HOS cells apparently allows HTLV-1- and Tax-induced G1 arrest to be bypassed. Finally, HTLV-1 infection and Tax expression also cause human SupT1 T cells to arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. These results suggest that productive HTLV-1 infection ordinarily leads to Tax-mediated G1 arrest. However, T cells containing somatic mutations that inactivate p21 CIP1/WAF1 and p27 KIP1 may continue to proliferate after HTLV-1 infection and Tax expression. These infected cells can expand clonally, accumulate additional chromosomal abnormalities, and progress to cancer.


2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (8) ◽  
pp. 3827-3836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Machiko Nomura ◽  
Takashi Ohashi ◽  
Keiko Nishikawa ◽  
Hironori Nishitsuji ◽  
Kiyoshi Kurihara ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) causes adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). Although the viral transactivation factor, Tax, has been known to have apparent transforming ability, the exact function of Tax in ATL development is still not clear. To understand the role of Tax in ATL development, we introduced short-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) against Tax in a rat HTLV-1-infected T-cell line. Our results demonstrated that expression of siRNA targeting Tax successfully downregulated Tax expression. Repression of Tax expression was associated with resistance of the HTLV-1-infected T cells to Tax-specific cytotoxic-T-lymphocyte killing. This may be due to the direct effect of decreased Tax expression, because the Tax siRNA did not alter the expression of MHC-I, CD80, or CD86. Furthermore, T cells with Tax downregulation appeared to lose the ability to develop tumors in T-cell-deficient nude rats, in which the parental HTLV-1-infected cells induce ATL-like lymphoproliferative disease. These results indicated the importance of Tax both for activating host immune response against the virus and for maintaining the growth ability of infected cells in vivo. Our results provide insights into the mechanisms how the host immune system can survey and inhibit the growth of HTLV-1-infected cells during the long latent period before the onset of ATL.


Blood ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 112 (9) ◽  
pp. 3788-3797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Arnold ◽  
Bevin Zimmerman ◽  
Min Li ◽  
Michael D. Lairmore ◽  
Patrick L. Green

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) basic leucine zipper factor (HBZ) is dispensable for HTLV-1–mediated cellular transformation in cell culture, but is required for efficient viral infectivity and persistence in rabbits. In most adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) cells, Tax oncoprotein expression is typically low or undetectable, whereas Hbz gene expression is maintained, suggesting that Hbz expression may support infected cell survival and, ultimately, leukemogenesis. Emerging data indicate that HBZ protein can interact with cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) and Jun family members, altering transcription factor binding and transactivation of both viral and cellular promoters. Herein, lentiviral vectors that express Hbz-specific short hairpin (sh)–RNA effectively decreased both Hbz mRNA and HBZ protein expression in transduced HTLV-1–transformed SLB-1 T cells. Hbz knockdown correlated with a significant decrease in T-cell proliferation in culture. Both SLB-1 and SLB-1-Hbz knockdown cells engrafted into inoculated NOD/SCIDγchain−/− mice to form solid tumors that also infiltrated multiple tissues. However, tumor formation and organ infiltration were significantly decreased in animals challenged with SLB-1-Hbz knockdown cells. Our data indicate that Hbz expression enhances the proliferative capacity of HTLV-1–infected T cells, playing a critical role in cell survival and ultimately HTLV-1 tumorigenesis in the infected host.


2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (11) ◽  
pp. 5908-5918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryo Takayanagi ◽  
Takashi Ohashi ◽  
Eizaburo Yamashita ◽  
Yohei Kurosaki ◽  
Kumiko Tanaka ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiologic agent of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). To develop a better animal model for the investigation of HTLV-1 infection, we established a transgenic (Tg) rat carrying the human CRM1 (hCRM1) gene, which encodes a viral RNA transporter that is a species-specific restriction factor. At first we found that CRM1 expression is elaborately regulated through a pathway involving protein kinase C during lymphocyte activation, initially by posttranscriptional and subsequently by transcriptional mechanisms. This fact led us to use an hCRM1-containing bacterial artificial chromosome clone, which would harbor the entire regulatory and coding regions of the CRM1 gene. The Tg rats expressed hCRM1 protein in a manner similar to expression of intrinsic rat CRM1 in various organs. HTLV-1-infected T-cell lines derived from these Tg rats produced 100- to 10,000-fold more HTLV-1 than did T cells from wild-type rats, and the absolute levels of HTLV-1 were similar to those produced by human T cells. We also observed enhancement of the dissemination of HTLV-1 to the thymus in the Tg rats after intraperitoneal inoculation, although the proviral loads were low in both wild-type and Tg rats. These results support the essential role of hCRM1 in proper HTLV-1 replication and suggest the importance of this Tg rat as an animal model for HTLV-1.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e1009219
Author(s):  
Abdou Akkouche ◽  
Sara Moodad ◽  
Rita Hleihel ◽  
Hala Skayneh ◽  
Séverine Chambeyron ◽  
...  

Adult T cell leukemia (ATL) is an aggressive malignancy secondary to chronic infection by the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection. Two viral proteins, Tax and HBZ, play central roles in ATL leukemogenesis. Tax expression transforms T cells in vitro and induces ATL-like disease in mice. Tax also induces a rough eye phenotype and increases hemocyte count in Drosophila melanogaster, indicative of transformation. Among multiple functions, Tax modulates the expression of the enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), a methyltransferase of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), leading to H3K27me3-dependent reprogramming of around half of cellular genes. HBZ is a negative regulator of Tax-mediated viral transcription. HBZ effects on epigenetic signatures are underexplored. Here, we established an hbz transgenic fly model, and demonstrated that, unlike Tax, which induces NF-κB activation and enhanced PRC2 activity creating an activation loop, HBZ neither induces transformation nor NF-κB activation in vivo. However, overexpression of Tax or HBZ increases the PRC2 activity and both proteins directly interact with PRC2 complex core components. Importantly, overexpression of HBZ in tax transgenic flies prevents Tax-induced NF-κB or PRC2 activation and totally rescues Tax-induced transformation and senescence. Our results establish the in vivo antagonistic effect of HBZ on Tax-induced transformation and cellular effects. This study helps understanding long-term HTLV-1 persistence and cellular transformation and opens perspectives for new therapeutic strategies targeting the epigenetic machinery in ATL.


2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (7) ◽  
pp. 2216-2221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangyong Ma ◽  
Jun-ichirou Yasunaga ◽  
Hirofumi Akari ◽  
Masao Matsuoka

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a delta-type retrovirus that induces malignant and inflammatory diseases during its long persistence in vivo. HTLV-1 can infect various kinds of cells; however, HTLV-1 provirus is predominantly found in peripheral CD4 T cells in vivo. Here we find that TCF1 and LEF1, two Wnt transcription factors that are specifically expressed in T cells, inhibit viral replication through antagonizing Tax functions. TCF1 and LEF1 can each interact with Tax and inhibit Tax-dependent viral expression and activation of NF-κB and AP-1. As a result, HTLV-1 replication is suppressed in the presence of either TCF1 or LEF1. On the other hand, T-cell activation suppresses the expression of both TCF1 and LEF1, and this suppression enables Tax to function as an activator. We analyzed the thymus of a simian T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (STLV-1) infected Japanese macaque, and found a negative correlation between proviral load and TCF1/LEF1 expression in various T-cell subsets, supporting the idea that TCF1 and LEF1 negatively regulate HTLV-1 replication and the proliferation of infected cells. Thus, this study identified TCF1 and LEF1 as Tax antagonistic factors in vivo, a fact which may critically influence the peripheral T-cell tropism of this virus.


Viruses ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
Victoria Maksimova ◽  
Amanda R. Panfil

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is an oncogenic retrovirus that is the causative infectious agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), an aggressive and fatal CD4+ T-cell malignancy, and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), a chronic neurological disease. Disease progression in infected individuals is the result of HTLV-1-driven clonal expansion of CD4+ T-cells and is generally associated with the activities of the viral oncoproteins Tax and Hbz. A closely related virus, HTLV-2, exhibits similar genomic features and the capacity to transform T-cells, but is non-pathogenic. In vitro, HTLV-1 primarily immortalizes or transforms CD4+ T-cells, while HTLV-2 displays a transformation tropism for CD8+ T-cells. This distinct tropism is recapitulated in infected people. Through comparative studies, the genetic determinant for this divergent tropism of HTLV-1/2 has been mapped to the viral envelope (Env). In this review, we explore the emerging roles for Env beyond initial viral entry and examine current perspectives on its contributions to HTLV-1-mediated disease development.


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