title: Functional activities of the human T-cell leukemia virus type I Tax oncoprotein: cellular signaling through NF-kappa B.
abstract: Human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) is the etiological agent for adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), as well as for tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) and HTLV-I associate myelopathy (HAM). A biological understanding of the involvement of HTLV-I and in ATL has focused significantly on the workings of the virally-encoded 40 kDa phospho-oncoprotein, Tax. Tax is a transcriptional activator. Its ability to modulate the expression and function of many cellular genes has been reasoned to be a major contributory mechanism explaining HTLV-I-mediated transformation of cells. In activating cellular gene expression, Tax impinges upon several cellular signal-transduction pathways, including those for CREB/ATF and NF-kappa B. In this paper, we review aspects of Tax's transcriptional potential with particular focus on recent evidence linking Tax to IKK (I kappa B-kinase)-complex and MAP3Ks (mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinases).
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Room 306, Building 4, 4 Center Drive, MSC 0460, Bethesda, MD 20892-0460, USA. kj7e@nih.gov
authors.forename: K T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Jeang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D016356:Gene Products, tax / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D051550:I-kappa B Kinase; D015459:Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D020930:MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016356:Gene Products, tax; D016328:NF-kappa B; D014157:Transcription Factors; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; C496559:CHUK protein, human; D051550:I-kappa B Kinase; C496560:IKBKB protein, human; C496565:IKBKE protein, human; D020930:MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases