Stimulation of cyclin-dependent kinase activity and G1- to S-phase transition in human lymphocytes by the human T-cell leukemia/lymphotropic virus type 1 Tax protein

The human T-cell leukemia/lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) induces a malignant lymphocytic disease. The HTLV-1 transactivator protein, Tax, is believed to be crucial for the development of the disease since it is transforming in vitro and induces tumors in transgenic animals. Although the transcriptional modulation of viral and cellular gene expression by Tax has been analyzed thoroughly, it has remained unclear how the Tax functions act on the cell cycle of primary T cells. To investigate the mechanism of Tax-mediated T-cell stimulation, we transduced primary human cord blood T cells with a conditional, tetracycline repressor-based tax expression system. Permanent Tax expression results in an abnormal proliferation of T cells which closely resemble HTLV-1-infected lymphocytes. Suppression of Tax synthesis stopped lymphocyte growth and caused cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase. Upon reinduction of tax expression, the arrested cells entered the S phase. This showed that Tax has mitogenic activity, which is required for stimulating the G1- to S-phase transition of immortalized lymphocytes. In mammalian cells, the G1-phase progression is controlled by the serial activation of several cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks), starting with Cdk4 and Cdk6. In the presence of Tax, both Cdk4 and Cdk6 were activated. The suppression of Tax synthesis, however, resulted in a significant reduction of the Cdk4 and Cdk6 activities but did not influence the expression of Cdk4, Cdk6, or cognate D-type cyclin proteins. These data suggest that Tax induces Cdk4 and Cdk6 activity in primary human T lymphocytes; this Cdk activation is likely to account for the mitogenic Tax effect and for the abnormal T-cell proliferation of HTLV-1-infected lymphocytes.

Activation of interleukin-2 receptor alpha expression by extracellular HTLV-I Tax1 protein: a potential role in HTLV-I pathogenesis

The Tax1 protein of human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I) has been shown to stimulate the proliferation of human lymphocytes. Here we report that lymphocyte proliferation can be induced at extracellular Tax1 concentrations as low as 25 pM. The proliferative response induced by extracellular Tax1 is accompanied by an activation of endogenous interleukin-2 receptor alpha-chain (IL-2R alpha) expression in human lymphocytes. Functional activation of IL-2R alpha expression in peripheral blood lymphocytes treated with Tax1 was demonstrated using an [125I]IL-2-binding assay. In addition, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay demonstrated that soluble IL-2R alpha in the medium of IL-2- and Tax1-treated cells was over 13-fold greater than in the medium of control treated cells. Overexpression of IL-2R alpha is a common clinical feature of some patients with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-I-associated myopathy (TSP/HAM). The ability of extracellular Tax1 protein to activate expression of IL-2R alpha in both infected and uninfected lymphocytes may contribute to the abnormal lymphocyte proliferation observed in both ATL and TSP/HAM.

Type I human T cell leukemia virus tax protein transforms rat fibroblasts through the cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein/activating transcription factor pathway

The Tax oncoprotein of the type I human T cell leukemia virus (HTLV-I) activates transcription of cellular and viral genes through at least two different transcription factor pathways. Tax activates transcription of the c-fos proto-oncogene by a mechanism that appears to involve members of the cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) and activating transcription factor (ATF) family of DNA-binding proteins. Tax also induces the nuclear expression of the NF-kappa B family of rel oncogene-related enhancer-binding proteins. We have investigated the potential role of these CREB/ATF and NF-kappa B/Rel transcription factors in Tax-mediated transformation by analyzing the oncogenic potential of Tax mutants that functionally segregate these two pathways of transactivation. Rat fibroblasts (Rat2) stably expressing either the wild-type Tax protein or a Tax mutant selectively deficient in the ability to induce NF-kappa B/Rel demonstrated marked changes in morphology and growth characteristics including the ability to form tumors in athymic mice. In contrast, Rat2 cells stably expressing a Tax mutant selectively deficient in the ability to activate transcription through CREB/ATF demonstrated no detectable changes in morphology or growth characteristics. These results suggest that transcriptional activation through the CREB/ATF pathway may play an important role in Tax-mediated cellular transformation.