期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1998
卷号:95
期号:4
页码:1782-1787
DOI:10.1073/pnas.95.4.1782
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Human T cell leukemia virus I (HTLV-I) causes acute leukemic disease in a low percentage of infected individuals through obscure mechanisms. Our studies compare two rabbit HTLV-I-infected T cell lines: one, RH/K34, causes lethal experimental leukemia and the other, RH/K30, mediates asymptomatic infection. We show herein that the product of the protooncogene vav is constitutively Tyr-phosphorylated in RH/K34 but not in RH/K30. A role for the retrovirus in phosphorylation of Vav was assigned by transfection experiments with molecular clones of HTLV-I derived from the two lines. The HTLV-I molecular clone from RH/K30, but not that from RH/K34, down-regulates Vav phosphorylation in a Herpesvirus ateles-transformed T cell line. Use of recombinant virus clones revealed that a pX region sequence differing by two nucleotides between the two clones mediates this down-regulation. Because Vav is involved in T cell signaling and Vav phosphorylation occurs upon activation of T cells, control of the activation state of Vav by viral proteins may relate to the leukemogenic potential of certain HTLV-I-infected cells.