Increased antiapoptotic homodimers to heterodimers in HTLV-I–transformed cells.
(A) Protein extracts from uninfected PBMCs, HTLV-I cell lines (MT-2 and MT-4), and HTLV-II cell lines (C19 and C96II) were immunoprecipitated with mixed antibodies against Bax, Bak, and BAD, and the immunocomplexes were probed with either Bcl2 or Bcl-XL(heterodimers). Depletion of Bax, BAD, and Bak was confirmed by Western blot, and the proteins in the depleted fraction were immunoprecipitated with antibodies directed against either Bcl2 or Bcl-XL (homodimers). The relative intensity of each band was calculated by densitometry and is presented as an arbitrary unit. (B) The ratio of heterodimers to homodimers was calculated from 2 independent immunoprecipitations.
