title: Cytokine and growth factor expression by HTLV-1 Lck-tax transgenic cells in SCID mice.
abstract: The Tax protein encoded by HTLV-1 plays a key role in the development of ATL in infected individuals. Our previous studies showed that tax transgenic mice develop disease that is almost identical to human ATL, with widespread organ invasion by lymphomatous cells and the development of leukemia. The same pathology develops rapidly in SCID mice engrafted with cells from the transgenic animals. In the present study, we used this SCID model to analyze the expression levels of several cytokines, growth factors, and adhesion molecules to determine their possible involvement in the development of disease. We showed that Tax expression was undetectable at the protein level in the tax-transformed cells used to inoculate the SCID mice and that these cells displayed constitutive NF-kappaB and Akt activity. We demonstrated significant differences in the levels of circulating PDGF-BB, TNF-alpha, sICAM-1, and sVCAM-1 in inoculated animals. Cell-surface staining of the tax transgenic cells showed that they do not express receptors for any of the upregulated growth factors. Significant differences were not found in the secreted levels of bFGF, MMP9, VEGF, or E-selectin, whereas IL-2, IL-15, IL-6, IL-1beta, and IFN-gamma expression was undetectable. Even though the number of factors analyzed is limited, our study identified TNF-alpha, PDGF-BB, and the adhesion molecules sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 as factors that may contribute to the high levels of organ infiltration by leukemic cells in this tax transgenic SCID model.
authors.affiliation: UCD Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Karen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Watters
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sawa
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Noreen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sheehy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000077214:Becaplermin; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D016356:Gene Products, tax / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D010982:Platelet-Derived Growth Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020574:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-sis; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D016356:Gene Products, tax; C090509:Icam1 protein, mouse; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D010982:Platelet-Derived Growth Factor; D020574:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-sis; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1; C514970:tax protein, Human T-lymphotrophic virus 1; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1; D000077214:Becaplermin