Role of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 X region proteins in immortalization of primary human lymphocytes in culture.
Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) immortalizes human CD4+ T lymphocytes in culture. Previous studies show that in the context of a herpesvirus saimiri vector, the sequence of the X region at the 3' end of the HTLV-1 genome is also capable of immortalizing CD4+ lymphocytes in the absence of HTLV-1 structural proteins. The X region of HTLV-1 encodes two trans-acting viral proteins, the 42-kDa Tax protein and the 27-kDa Rex protein. Infection of human cord blood cells with herpesvirus saimiri recombinants which contain HTLV-1 X region sequences defective for expression of tax, rex, or both tax and rex demonstrates that tax function is necessary and sufficient for immortalization of primary human CD4+ cord blood lymphocytes in culture in the context of the herpesvirus saimiri vector.
Institut für Klinische und Molekulare Virologie, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany.
R
R
Grassmann
S
S
Berchtold
I
I
Radant
M
M
Alt
B
B
Fleckenstein
J G
JG
Sodroski
W A
WA
Haseltine
U
U
Ramstedt
D001483:Base Sequence; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology*; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004279:DNA, Viral; D016370:Gene Products, rex / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D016356:Gene Products, tax / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D004279:DNA, Viral; D016370:Gene Products, rex; D016356:Gene Products, tax