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Transient induction of IL‐2 receptor in cultured T cell lines by HTLV‐1 LTR‐linked tax‐1 gene.
Author(s) -
Doi T.,
Hatakeyama M.,
Itoh S.,
Taniguchi T.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1989.tb03600.x
Subject(s) - biology , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , receptor , genetics , cell culture , virology
Human lymphotropic virus, HTLV‐1, encodes in its proviral genome a transcriptional activator protein, tax‐1, that may be responsible for the development of virus‐induced adult T cell leukemia (ATL), possibly through the aberrant activation of the genes for interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) and one of its receptor (IL‐2R) components, the IL‐2 receptor alpha‐chain (IL‐2R alpha). In the present study, an expression plasmid containing tax‐1 cDNA under the control of HTLV‐1 LTR was introduced into mouse and human CD4‐positive T cell lines. Analysis of the established cell clones revealed a number of interesting features: (i) a limited fraction of the total cell population (less than 25% in each clone) was positive for IL‐2R alpha; (ii) the IL‐2R alpha expression was not permanent, as the IL‐2R alpha positive and negative cells could convert either way. The experimental data suggest that the observed heterogeneity in IL‐2R alpha expression in the transformants is due to a cell‐cycle‐regulated expression and function of tax‐1. Furthermore, a proportion of the induced IL‐2R in EL‐4 was in high‐affinity form, suggesting the association of the IL‐2R alpha and the IL‐2R beta chain (p70‐75) components.