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Soluble and membrane isoforms of Fas/CD95 in fresh adult T‐cell leukemia (ATL) cells and ATL‐cell lines
Author(s) -
Sugahara Kazuyuki,
Yamada Yasuaki,
Hiragata Youichi,
Matsuo Yuzi,
Tsuruda Kazuto,
Tomonaga Masao,
Maeda Takahiro,
Atogami Sunao,
Tsukasaki Kunihiro,
Kamihira Shimeru
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19970703)72:1<128::aid-ijc18>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - fas receptor , biology , t cell leukemia , fas ligand , gene isoform , leukemia , cancer research , carcinogenesis , cell culture , apoptosis , alternative splicing , microbiology and biotechnology , programmed cell death , cancer , immunology , gene , genetics
Fas, also designated as Apo‐1 and CD95, is a cell membrane receptor (mFas) involved in apoptotic cell death. A soluble form (sFas) lacking the transmembrane domain due to alternative splicing has been isolated. Abnormal expression of sFas and mFas is likely to be involved in lymphoproliferative disorders and auto‐immune diseases. Adult T‐cell leukemia (ATL) caused by human T‐cell‐leukemia virus type‐1 (HTLV‐1) is well known to be a T‐cell neoplasm with strong mFas expression, suggesting a role of Fas in the pathology of the disease. We examined protein and mRNA expression of the 2 isoforms of Fas in fresh ATL cells and ATL cell lines. In general, mFas was strongly expressed in ATL cells, and sFas levels in sera were high, especially in malignant ATL. However, expression of the isoforms in some cases of ATL varied; there was no mFas expression on the cell surface and sFas levels were high in serum. In contrast, all ATL cell lines examined showed strong mFas expression and scarce production of sFas in the supernatant, corresponding to strong expression of full‐length Fas mRNA and weak to negative expression of alternatively spliced mRNA lacking the transmembrane domain. Our findings indicate that the mode of expression of Fas isoforms in ATL cells is not always homogenous and that Fas may play a role in the malignant behavior and oncogenesis of ATL. Int. J. Cancer 72:128–132, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss Inc.