Ew. Harhaj et Sc. Sun, IKK gamma serves as a docking subunit of the I kappa B kinase (IKK) and mediates interaction of IKK with the human T-cell leukemia virus Tax protein, J BIOL CHEM, 274(33), 1999, pp. 22911-22914
The tax gene product of human T-cell leukemia virus type I induces activati
on of transcription factor NF-kappa B, which contributes to deregulated exp
ression of various cellular genes. Tax expression triggers persistent phosp
horylation and degradation of the NF-kappa B inhibitory proteins I kappa B
alpha and I kappa B beta resulting in constitutive nuclear expression of NF
-KB. Recent studies demonstrate that Tax activates the I kappa B kinase (IK
K), although the underlying mechanism remains unclear, In this report, we s
how that Tax physically interacts with a regulatory component of the IKK co
mplex, the NF-kappa B essential modulator or IKK-gamma (NEMO/IKK gamma). Th
is molecular interaction appears to be important for recruiting Tax to the
IKK catalytic subunits, IKK alpha and IKK beta. Expression of NEMO/IKK gamm
a greatly promotes binding of Tax to IKK alpha and IKK beta and stimulates
Tax-mediated IKK activation. Interestingly, a mutant form of Tax defective
in IKK activation exhibited a markedly diminished level of NEMO/IKK gamma a
ssociation. These findings suggest that the physical interaction of Tax wit
h NEMO/IKK gamma may play an important role in Tax-mediated IKK activation.