Up-regulation of transcription factor and signal transduction genes in HTLV-1–infected T lymphocytes.

Total RNA was isolated from HTLV-1⁺/Tax⁺(C91-PL, HuT-102, MT-2, TAXI-1, JuanaW) and HTLV-1⁻/Tax⁻ cell cultures (PBMC_PHA, HuT-78, Jurkat), separated on denaturing gels, and subjected to Northern blot analysis. Specific mRNAs of the expected sizes were detected by radioactively labeled cDNAs derived from the transcription factor DEC-1, and signal transduction genes (PAC1, B94, ferritin L-chain, ISG15, and calcyclin). Some of the genes were found to be consistently up-regulated in all Tax⁺ cells (A); others were preferentially up-regulated in ATL patient-derived cultures (B). Equal RNA loading was controlled by hybridization to an internal standard (GAPDH). Results are representative of 3 independent Northern blots. J indicates JuanaW RNA; P, PBMC_PHA RNA. The size of the transcripts is indicated in brackets. ^*For the B94 expression analysis MT-2 RNA was used instead of HuT-102 RNA.