Science, Vol.269, No.5220, 79-81, 1995
Constitutively Activated Jak-Stat Pathway in T-Cells Transformed with HTLV-I
Human T cell lymphotropic virus I (HTLV-I) is the etiological agent for adult T cell leukemia and tropical spastic paraparesis (also termed HTLV-I-associated myelopathy). HTLV-I-infected peripheral blood T cells exhibit an initial phase of interleukin-2 (IL-2)-dependent growth; over time, by an un known mechanism, the cells become IL-2-independent. Whereas the Jak kinases Jak1 and Jak3 and the signal transducer and activator of transcription proteins Stat3 and Stat5 are activated in normal T cells in response to IL-2, this signaling pathway was constitutively activated in HTLV-I-transformed cells. In HTLV-I-infected cord blood lymphocytes, the transition from IL-2-dependent to IL-2-independent growth correlated with the acquisition of a constitutively activated Jak-STAT pathway, which suggests that this pathway participates in HTLV-I-mediated T cell transformation.
Keywords:VIRUS TYPE-I;RECEPTOR GAMMA-CHAIN;LEUKEMIA-LYMPHOMA;FUNCTIONAL COMPONENT;INFECTED-CELLS;IL-2 RECEPTOR;PROTEINS;LEUKOCYTES;EXPRESSION;GROWTH