[HTLV-I tax mediated activation of cellular genes in transgenic mice]

The tax protein of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) is known to be a potent transactivator of its own long terminal repeat (LTR) promoter and the cellular genes (IL-2, IL-2R, c-fos and GM-CSF). These effects of tax have been studied in vitro, mostly in T-cell lines. To determine its function in vivo in multiple cell types, we have used two transgenic mouse lines in which tax is expressed under the control of the LTR (LTRtax) or murine Thyl. 2 (Thytax) transcriptional regulatory sequences. Tax protein is expressed in fibroblasts, salivary gland, skeletal muscle, bone matrix and thymus tissue. In these tissues the expression of endogenous IL-2R, c-fos, GM-CSF, Zif268, IL-6, and PDGF-B were studied. In fibroblastic tumors GM-CSF, IL-6, PDGF-B, Zif268, c-fos were expressed at high levels. No significant changes in expression of these genes were seen in other tissues. This suggests that tax mediated transcriptional transactivation alone is not sufficient to cause accumulation of these cellular gene products. Other events which occur during tax mediated transformation in vivo allow high levels of cellular gene expression constitutively.