PDZ domain-binding motif of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 Tax oncoprotein is essential for the interleukin 2 independent growth induction of a T-cell line

Abstract Background Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiologic agent of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), whereas HTLV type 2 (HTLV-2), is not associated with ATL or any other leukemia. HTLV-1 encodes the transforming gene tax1, whose expression in an interleukin (IL)-2-dependent T-cell line (CTLL-2) induces IL-2-independent growth. Results In this study, we demonstrated that IL-2-independent growth induction by Tax1 was abrogated by mutations of the PDZ domain-binding motif (PBM) at the Tax1 C-terminus. HTLV-2 Tax2, which shares 75% amino acid identity with Tax1 but does not have a PBM, was not able to induce IL-2-independent growth of CTLL-2. Conclusion Our results suggest that Tax1, through interaction with PDZ domain protein(s) induces IL-2-independent growth, which may be a factor in multi-step leukemogenesis caused by HTLV-1.