HTLV-1 bZIP factor induces T-cell lymphoma and systemic inflammation in vivo.

ABSTRACT: Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the causal agent of a neoplastic disease of CD4+ T cells, adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), and inflammatory diseases including HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis, dermatitis, and inflammatory lung diseases. ATL cells, which constitutively express CD25, resemble CD25+CD4+ regulatory T cells (T(reg)). Approximately 60% of ATL cases indeed harbor leukemic cells that express FoxP3, a key transcription factor for T(reg) cells. HTLV-1 encodes an antisense transcript, HTLV-1 bZIP factor (HBZ), which is expressed in all ATL cases. In this study, we show that transgenic expression of HBZ in CD4+ T cells induced T-cell lymphomas and systemic inflammation in mice, resembling diseases observed in HTLV-1 infected individuals. In HBZ-tran

SUBMITTER: Satou Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3037353 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature