Presence of transcripts of the IL-12Rβ1 gene in the patient's cells.

The presence of transcripts of the IL-12Rβ1 chain gene was examined with Northern blot analysis using a whole IL-12Rβ1 cDNA probe. Lane 1, HEKC293 cells transfected with a vector only; lane 2, HEKC293 cells transfected with the wild-type IL-12Rβ1 chain gene; lane 3, HEKC293 cells transfected with the mutated IL-12Rβ1 chain gene; lane 4, PHA-PBMCs from the patient; lane 5, PHA-PBMCs from a healthy subject; lane 6, patient's HTLV-1–immortalized TS1HTLV-1 cells. Lower panel shows 18S and 28S RNA species visualized by ethidium bromide staining, confirming that an approximately equal amount of RNA was applied to each lane. Note that the patient's PHA-PBMCs had IL-12Rβ1 transcripts at a distinct but lower level, but TS-1HTLV-1 cells had a substantial level of transcripts.