Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type I Tax Activates CD69 Gene Expression.

The human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) is an oncogenic retrovirus that is etiologically linked to the genesis of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). Emerging evidence suggests that the pathogenicity of ATL involves suppression of the overall immune response, although the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that HTLV-I transactivator Tax induces the aberrant expression of CD69, an early leukocyte activation molecule that plays an important role in downregulation of the immune response. In a panel of HTLV-I-infected T-cell lines, CD69 expression was highly elevated compared to HTLV-I-negative T-cell lines at both mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, CD69 expression correlated with Tax expression. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from ATL patients also showed an increased expression of CD69 compared with controls. In vitro infection of a T-cell line with HTLV-I was associated with CD69 expression in conjunction with the increasing Tax expression. Expression of CD69 was dependent upon Tax expression in the inducible Tax-expressing cell line JPX-9. Tax transactivated the CD69 gene promoter in a transient transfection assay. Using Tax mutants and dominant negative mutants of IκBs, IKKs, NIK, and CREB, we demonstrated that Tax-induced CD69 expression required the NF-κB and CREB signaling pathways. A series of deletion and mutation analyses of the CD69 gene promoter indicated that two NF-κB, two EGR, and a CRE sequences were critical for Tax transactivation. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay showed the formation of specific protein-DNA complexes in HTLV-I-infected T-cell lines. These results suggest that Tax directly transactivated CD69 gene expression, through multiple cis-acting elements and by the interplay of transcription factors of the NF-κB, EGR, and CREB families. Tax-induced CD69 expression may be involved in immune suppression in ATL.