ATF3, an HTLV-1 bZip factor binding protein, promotes proliferation of adult T-cell leukemia cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) is an aggressive malignancy of CD4+ T-cells caused by human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1). The HTLV-1 bZIP factor (HBZ) gene, which is encoded by the minus strand of the viral genome, is expressed as an antisense transcript in all ATL cases. By using yeast two-hybrid screening, we identified activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) as an HBZ-interacting protein. ATF3 has been reported to be expressed in ATL cells, but its biological significance is not known.

Results

Immunoprecipitation analysis confirmed that ATF3 interacts with HBZ. Expression of ATF3 was upregulated in ATL cell lines and fresh ATL cases. Reporter assay revealed that ATF3 could interfere with the HTLV-1 Tax's transactivation of the 5' proviral long terminal re

SUBMITTER: Hagiya K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3068935 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature