title: Human T-lymphocyte transformation with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 2.
abstract: Human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type 2 (HTLV-2), a common infection of intravenous drug users and subpopulations of Native Americans, is uncommon in the general population. In contrast with the closely related HTLV-1, which is associated with both leukemia and neurologic disorders, HTLV-2 lacks a strong etiologic association with disease. HTLV-2 does shares many properties with HTLV-1, including in vitro lymphocyte transformation capability. To better assess the ability of HTLV-2 to transform lymphocytes, a limiting dilution assay was used to generate clonal, transformed lymphocyte lines. As with HTLV-1, the transformation efficiency of HTLV-2 producer cells was proportionately related to the number of lethally irradiated input cells and was comparable to HTLV-1-mediated transformation efficiency. HTLV-2-infected cells were reproducibly isolated and had markedly increased growth potential compared to uninfected cells; HTLV-2 transformants required the continued presence of exogenous interleukin 2 for growth for several months and were maintained for over 2 years in culture. All HTLV-2-transformed populations were CD2 and/or CD3 positive and B1 negative and were either CD4+ or CD8+ populations or a mixture of CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes. Clonality of the HTLV-2 transformants was confirmed by Southern blot analysis of T-cell receptor beta chain rearrangement. Southern blot analysis revealed a range of integrated full-length genomes from one to multiple. In situ hybridization analysis of HTLV-2 integration revealed no obvious chromosomal integration pattern.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, New York University Medical Center, New York 10016, USA.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Tarsis
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Parks
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Persaud
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Parks
mesh_terms: D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000378:metabolism; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D002877:Chromosomes, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology; D015333:Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D010641:Phenotype; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016662:Virus Integration / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte