Exclusion of Int-6 from PML nuclear bodies by binding to the HTLV-I Tax oncoprotein

The Tax transactivator of the human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) exhibits oncogenic properties. A screen for proteins interacting with Tax yielded a complementary DNA (cDNA) encoding the human Int-6 protein. In mice, the Int-6 gene can be converted into a putative dominant negative oncogene after retroviral insertion. Here, Int-6 was localized in the cell nucleus to give a speckled staining pattern superposed to that of the promyelocytic leukemia (PML) protein. The binding of Tax to Int-6 caused its redistribution from the nuclear domains to the cytoplasm. Thus, Int-6 is a component of the PML nuclear bodies and Tax disrupts its normal cellular localization by binding to it.