Adult T cell leukemia: a tale of two T cells.
Human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiologic agent for the development of an aggressive hematologic neoplasia termed adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL). Although the virus infects T cell subsets that display either CD4 or CD8 cell surface markers, the leukemic cell is exclusively of the CD4+ subtype. In the article by Sibon et al. in this issue of the JCI, the authors demonstrate that the molecular basis for clonal expansion differs between these 2 infected T cell populations (see the related article beginning on page 974). The molecular events associated with a preleukemic state, such as genomic instability, polynucleation, and cell cycle redistribution, were only observed in CD4+ T cells. This finding provides a molecular-based mechanism for the restriction of the leukemic phenotype to the CD4+ T cell subtype.
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia 23501, USA. semmesoj@evms.edu
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D000328:Adult; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D016356:Gene Products, tax / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D015459:Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D010641:Phenotype
D016356:Gene Products, tax