INTEGRATION OF PROVIRAL DNA INTO THE PDGF BETA-RECEPTOR GENE IN HTLV-I-INFECTED T-CELLS RESULTS IN A NOVEL TYROSINE KINASE PRODUCT WITH TRANSFORMING ACTIVITY
Kd. Chi et al., INTEGRATION OF PROVIRAL DNA INTO THE PDGF BETA-RECEPTOR GENE IN HTLV-I-INFECTED T-CELLS RESULTS IN A NOVEL TYROSINE KINASE PRODUCT WITH TRANSFORMING ACTIVITY, Oncogene, 15(9), 1997, pp. 1051-1057
We have previously shown that noninfected human T-cell lines express t
he canonical 5.7 kb mRNA coding for the type beta platelet-derived gro
wth factor-receptor (PDGF beta-receptor), whereas HTLV-I-infected T-ce
ll lines express a novel PDGF beta-receptor mRNA of 3.8 kb, In this re
port, we have extended those studies to molecularly characterize the 3
.8 kb PDGF beta-receptor mRNA and show that it has resulted from integ
ration of an apparently undeleted HTLV-I provirus into the PDGF beta-r
eceptor gene in an orientation enabling expression of a truncated PDGF
beta-receptor mRNA using the 3' HTLV-I long terminal repeat as a prom
oter, Further, NIH3T3 cells transfected with a plasmid containing the
truncated PDGF beta-receptor ORF plasmid generate colonies in soft aga
r with more cells per colony than untransfected cells, or cells transf
ected with the Tax 1 or PDGF-B (c-sis) plasmids, These results indicat
e that the truncated PDGF beta-receptor protein acquires transforming
capability and that HTLV-I-induced truncation of PDGF beta-receptor ma
y correlate with HTLV-I-associated neoplasia of human T-cells.