
[Cancer Research 60, 4939-4945, September 1, 2000]
© 2000 American Association for Cancer Research
Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type I Tax Activates Transcription of the Human Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 Gene through Two Nuclear Factor-
B Sites
Naoki Mori1,
Atsuhisa Ueda,
Shuichi Ikeda,
Yoshihiro Yamasaki,
Yasuaki Yamada,
Masao Tomonaga,
Shigeru Morikawa,
Romas Geleziunas,
Teizo Yoshimura and
Naoki Yamamoto
Department of Preventive Medicine and AIDS Research, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan [N. M., N. Y.]; Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki 852-8501, Japan [Y. Yamad.]; Department of Hematology, Atomic Disease Institute, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan [M. T.]; Department of Internal Medicine, City of Sasebo General Hospital, Sasebo 857-8511, Japan [S. I.]; Department of Internal Medicine, Kokura Memorial Hospital, Kitakyushu 802-8555, Japan [Y. Yamas.]; Department of Pathology First Unit, Shimane Medical University, Izumo 693-8501, Japan [S. M.]; First Department of Internal Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan [A. U.]; Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, San Francisco, California 94141-9100 [R. G.]; and Immunopathology Section, Laboratory of Immunobiology, National Cancer Institute-Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, Frederick, Maryland 21702 [T. Y.]
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ABSTRACT
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Infection by human T-cell leukemia virus type (HTLV) I leads to adult
T-cell leukemia and is also associated with the
neurodegenerative disease HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic
paraparesis. Leukocytes are attracted to sites of inflammation by
chemokines. One such chemokine is monocyte chemoattractant protein
(MCP)-1, a member of the C-C subfamily of chemokines. We investigated
whether HTLV-I infection causes up-regulation of MCP-1, which may in
turn cause recruitment of leukocytes to HTLV-I-infected areas. We now
report that MCP-1 mRNA levels are elevated in HTLV-I-infected T-cell
lines, when compared with uninfected ones. We further confirmed
secretion of MCP-1 by HTLV-I-infected T-cell lines. MCP-1 mRNA was also
expressed in leukemic cells from patients with adult T-cell leukemia.
The 5' transcriptional regulatory region of the MCP-1
gene was activated by the HTLV-I-encoded transactivator Tax in
the human T-cell line Jurkat, in which endogenous MCP-1 is induced by
Tax. By using site-specific point mutations, we have identified two
closely spaced nuclear factor (NF)-
B sites, A1 and A2, to be
important for Tax-mediated transactivation of the MCP-1
gene. Through the use of an electrophoretic mobility shift assay, we
demonstrated that Tax induced NF-
B binding to both MCP-1
B sites.
This is the first report to demonstrate that Tax can transactivate the
MCP-1 gene through the induction of NF-
B. Our results
thus reveal how Tax disrupts the normally regulated
MCP-1 gene and leads to its constitutive expression in
HTLV-I-infected cells. These findings may have important implications
for our understanding of HTLV-I-associated diseases.
 |
INTRODUCTION
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HTLV-I2
is the etiological agent of ATL (1
, 2)
. HTLV-I may also be
associated with several chronic inflammatory diseases of presumed
autoimmune etiology, such as HAM/TSP (3
, 4)
,
HTLV-I-associated arthropathy (5)
, uveitis
(6)
, and Sjögrens syndrome (7)
. A
characteristic feature of these HTLV-I-associated diseases is
infiltration of lymphocytes, including virus-infected cells, into
affected tissues. The possible roles of abnormal immune activation,
adhesion molecules, and cytokine or chemokine overproduction in the
pathogenesis of diseases caused by HTLV-I have been suggested, but the
mechanism by which they cause these diseases remains unknown.
Chemokines are thought to play a major role in the migration of cells
from one tissue to another, thereby controlling cell migration during
inflammation. MCP-1 is a member of the C-C chemokine family (8
, 9)
. MCP-1 and other chemokines are typically expressed in
tissues during inflammation and are induced in a variety of cell types
in vitro by the proinflammatory mediators tumor necrosis
factor-
, IL-1, and endotoxins (9
, 10)
. MCP-1 appears to
be important for activation of leukocyte subsets and triggers their
adhesiveness and transmigration through the endothelial layer.
Inhibition of induced MCP-1 expression is associated with reduced
transmigration of monocytes (11)
as well as with
diminished recruitment of T cells (12)
. Accordingly,
neutralizing antibodies against MCP-1 have been shown to inhibit T-cell
recruitment and cutaneous delayed-type hypersensitivity
(13)
, thus suggesting the importance of MCP-1 at the onset
of inflammatory processes.
Recent studies revealed that MCP-1 was expressed on perivascular
infiltrating cells as well as on vascular endothelium in the spinal
cord lesions of HAM/TSP patients (14)
. These findings
suggest that MCP-1 may play a pathological role in HTLV-I-associated
diseases. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of
constitutive MCP-1 expression in HTLV-I-infected T cells. The virally
encoded transcriptional activator Tax has multiple functions. Tax has
been shown to transform cell lines and primary T cells in
vitro, whereas transgenic mice expressing Tax develop nonlymphoid
tumors, leukemia, and various inflammatory diseases in vivo.
Tax activates the transcription of not only the HTLV-I LTR but also of
a number of cellular genes in trans. This transactivation by
Tax is mediated through interaction with transcription factors such as
cyclic AMP-responsive element binding protein (15)
in the
case of the HTLV-I LTR, NF-
B (16)
, and serum-responsive
factor (CArG box binding protein; Ref. 17
). To activate
NF-
B, Tax has been suggested to target certain cellular kinases that
induce IKKs, NIK, and mitogen-activated protein/extracellular
signal-regulated kinase kinase 1 (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
. In the present
study, we report that Tax is capable of inducing the MCP-1 chemokine
gene in T cells. Furthermore, we analyzed the mechanism of Tax-induced
transcriptional regulation of MCP-1. We demonstrate that the activation
of NF-
B is required for Tax activation of MCP-1. Tax-induced MCP-1
transactivation was mediated through two NF-
B binding sites located
2.6 kb from the transcription initiation site.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS
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Cell Lines.
Human T-cell lines, Jurkat, MOLT-4, and CCRF-CEM, and
HTLV-I-infected T-cell lines OMT (25)
, C5/MJ
(26)
, MT-2 (27)
, and HPB-ATL-O were grown in
RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum,
50 units/ml penicillin G, and 50 µg/ml streptomycin in a humidified
incubator containing 5% CO2. JPX-9 and JPX-9/M
(kindly provided by Dr. M. Nakamura, Tokyo Medical and Dental
University, Tokyo, Japan) is a subclone of Jurkat cells expressing Tax
and nonfunctional Tax mutant under the control of the metallothionein
promoter (28
, 29)
.
Patient Samples.
The study protocol was approved by the Human Ethics Review Committees
of the participating institutions. Leukemic cells from six patients
diagnosed with acute-type (n = 3; patients 2,
4, and 6) and chronic-type ATL (n = 3;
patients 1, 3, and 5) were analyzed. The diagnosis was based on
clinical features, hematological findings, and serum anti-HTLV-I
antibodies. Monoclonal HTLV-I provirus integration into the DNA of
leukemic cells was confirmed by Southern blot hybridization in all
cases (data not shown). Mononuclear cells were isolated by
Ficoll/Hypaque (Pharmacia LKB, Uppsala, Sweden) density gradient
centrifugation and washed with PBS.
RT-PCR.
Total RNA was extracted with Trizol (Life Technologies, Inc.,
Gaithersburg, MD) according to the protocol provided by the
manufacturer. First-strand cDNA was synthesized in a 20-µl reaction
volume using an RNA-PCR kit (Takara Shuzo, Kyoto, Japan) with random
primers. Thereafter, cDNA was amplified for 35 and 28 cycles for MCP-1
and ß-actin, respectively. The oligonucleotide primers used were
as follows: for MCP-1: sense, 5'-TCGCTCAGCCAGATGCAATCAATGC-3' and
antisense, 5'-CCCAGGGGTAGAACTGTGGTTCAA-3' (30)
; and for
ß-actin: sense, 5'-GTGGGGCGCCCCAGGCACCA-3' and antisense,
5'-CTCCTTAATGTCACGCACGATTTC-3'. Product sizes were 479 bp for MCP-1 and
548 bp for ß-actin. Cycling conditions were as follows: denaturing at
94°C (30 s), annealing at 60°C (30 s), and extension at 72°C (60
s for MCP-1 and 90 s for ß-actin). The PCR products were
fractionated on 2% agarose gels and visualized by ethidium bromide
staining.
Northern Blot Analysis.
Total RNA (20 µg) was electrophoresed through a formaldehyde-agarose
gel and transferred onto a nylon filter. Filters were prehybridized (in
0.5 M sodium phosphate, 0.1% BSA, 7% SDS, 100 µg/ml
salmon testis DNA, and 100 µg/ml yeast RNA) for 2 h at 65°C
and then hybridized overnight with the following:
-32P-radiolabeled probes: cDNA of HTLV-I Tax
(31)
and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase
(32)
. Radiolabeled probes were generated using a Megaprime
DNA Labeling system (Amersham, Arlington Heights, IL).
ELISA for MCP-1.
Cells were suspended in fresh culture medium at a concentration
of 5 x 105 cells/ml and cultured
for 72 h. After centrifugation, MCP-1 concentrations were measured
in the culture supernatants using a commercially available ELISA kit
(Biosource International, Inc., Camarillo, CA).
Plasmids.
The LUC reporter constructs contained the proximal promoter region and
distal enhancer region of the human MCP-1 gene and have
recently been described in detail (33)
. The HTLV-I LTR-LUC
reporter was generated by introducing the full-length HTLV-I LTR into
the pGL2-Basic vector (Promega Corp., Madison, WI).
B-LUC
(34)
, containing five tandem repeats of an NF-
B binding
site from the IL-2R
gene, was kindly provided by Dr. J.
Fujisawa (Kansai Medical University, Osaka, Japan). Plasmids pH2Rneo
and pH2R40M, containing Tax, have been described previously
(35)
. Plasmids containing wild-type Tax (pßMT-2Tax) and
a mutant Tax gene (pßTaxM22), under the control of a ß-actin
promoter and its control plasmid (pH ßAPr-1-neo), have been described
elsewhere (36
, 37)
. Wild-type Tax encoded in pßMT-2Tax
is effective at activating NF-
B, CArG, and CRE sites. On the other
hand, the Tax mutant encoded by pßTaxM22 can activate CArG and CRE
sites but not NF-
B (38)
. I
B
N (39)
and I
Bß
N (40
; kindly provided by Dr. D. W.
Ballard, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN) are
deletion mutants of I
B
and I
Bß lacking the
NH2-terminal 36 amino acids and 23 amino acids,
respectively. The kinase-deficient K44M IKK
, K44A IKKß, and
KK429/430AA NIK mutants have been described previously
(21)
.
Cell Transfection and LUC Assays.
Transfections were performed by electroporation (41)
. In
all cases, a renilla LUC expression vector, pRL-TK (Toyo Ink Co.,
Tokyo, Japan), was cotransfected to correct for transfection
efficiency. After 24 h of incubation, transfected cells were lysed
in lysis reagent (Toyo Ink Co.), and LUC activity was measured
according to the protocol provided by the manufacturer. Each assay was
independently repeated at least three times.
EMSA.
NF-
B binding activity to
B elements was examined by EMSA as
described previously (42)
. In brief, 5 µg of nuclear
extracts were preincubated in a binding buffer containing 1 µg of
poly(deoxyinosinic-deoxycytidylic acid). They were then incubated with
50,000 cpm of
-32P-labeled oligonucleotide
probes containing
B elements for 15 min at room temperature. The
DNA-protein complexes were separated on a 4% polyacrylamide gel and
visualized by autoradiography. To examine the specificity of the
B
element probes, unlabeled competitor oligonucleotides were preincubated
with nuclear extracts for 15 min before incubation with probes.
The probes or competitors used were prepared by annealing the sense and
antisense synthetic oligonucleotides as follows: NF-
B element A1 in
the MCP-1 gene, 5'-gatcGATCTGGGAACTTCCAAAGC-3';
A1 mutant (MA1), 5'-gatcGATCTaGaAACTTCCAAAGC-3'; NF-
B
element A2 in the MCP-1 gene,
5'-gatcAGAGTGGGAATTTCCACTCA-3'; A2 mutant (MA2),
5'-gatcAGAGTGGGAATTcggACTCA-3'; and a typical NF-
B
element from the IL-2R
gene,
5'-gatcCGGCAGGGGAATCTCCCTCTC-3'. Underlined sequences
represent the NF-
B binding site, and mutations are indicated in
lowercase. To identify NF-
B/Rel proteins in the DNA-protein complex
revealed by EMSA, antibodies specific for various NF-
B/Rel family
proteins, including RelA/p65, p50, c-Rel, and NF-
B2 p52 (Santa Cruz
Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA), were used to elicit a supershift and/or
to inhibit DNA-protein complex formation. These antibodies were
incubated with the nuclear extracts for 45 min at room temperature,
before incubation with radiolabeled probes.
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RESULTS
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Constitutive Expression of MCP-1 mRNA in T-Cell Lines Infected with
HTLV-I.
To determine whether MCP-1 expression in T cells correlates with HTLV-I
infection, MCP-1 mRNA levels from four HTLV-I-infected and three
uninfected human T-cell lines were assessed by RT-PCR using
MCP-1-specific primers. Expression of HTLV-I mRNA was confirmed in all
four HTLV-I-infected T-cell lines by Northern blot analysis. The MCP-1
transcript was detected strongly in all four HTLV-I-infected cell lines
(Fig. 1
, Lanes 47), whereas it was hardly detectable in the
uninfected lines (Fig. 1
, Lanes 13). ß-Actin served as
the internal control for each sample. This result demonstrates that the
MCP-1 gene is constitutively expressed in HTLV-I-infected
T-cell lines.

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Fig. 1. Determination of the expression of HTLV-I mRNA by Northern
blot analysis and MCP-1 mRNA by RT-PCR analysis in various
HTLV-I-infected and uninfected human T-cell lines. Total RNA samples
were prepared from the indicated T-cell lines. Predominant 2.1-, 4.2-,
and 8.5-kb HTLV-I mRNA species were detected in OMT, C5/MJ, MT-2, and
HPB-ATL-O cell lines (Lanes 47).
Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and
ß-actin expression served as controls.
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Expression of MCP-1 mRNA in Cells Derived from ATL Patients.
Expression of the MCP-1 gene in leukemic cells derived from
patients with ATL was assessed by RT-PCR. In all cases, we observed
significant expression of MCP-1 mRNA (Fig. 2)
, indicating that this gene is up-regulated in cells derived from ATL
patients. In contrast, MCP-1 was hardly expressed in PBMCs from normal
donors.

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Fig. 2. Detection of MCP-1 mRNA in leukemic cells obtained from
ATL patients by RT-PCR analysis. Lane 1, normal PBMCs
RNA; Lanes 27, PBMCs RNA samples from patients with
ATL. Bottom, ethidium bromide staining of the RT-PCR
performed with ß-actin primers. Arrows, position of
the specifically amplified DNA.
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Tax Induces Expression of the MCP-1 Gene.
Because HTLV-I encodes a strong transcriptional transactivator, Tax,
implicated previously in deregulation of host genes, we strongly
suggest that Tax was up-regulating MCP-1 gene transcription.
To test whether Tax transactivates the MCP-1 gene, we next
used the inducible Jurkat Tax transfectant, JPX-9, which generates Tax
after the addition of CdCl2 (28)
.
The level of expression of Tax mRNA in these cells was determined by
Northern blot analysis, and expression of the MCP-1 gene was
assayed by RT-PCR (Fig. 3)
. The addition of CdCl2 (20
µM) to the culture medium of JPX-9 cells
induced the expression of Tax within 5 h, which persisted until
72 h after treatment. A concomitant increase in the expression of
MCP-1, within 24 h of treatment with CdCl2,
was observed in JPX-9 cells. This increase in MCP-1 mRNA levels was
further enhanced 72 h after the treatment. The induction of MCP-1
was attributable to Tax but not by CdCl2
treatment, because it was not observed in JPX-9/M expressing the
nonfunctional Tax protein after treatment with
CdCl2 (data not shown). These results indicate
that Tax alone is capable of causing elevated expression of the
MCP-1 gene in Jurkat T cells.

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Fig. 3. Induction kinetics of the MCP-1 gene in
JPX-9 cells treated with CdCl2. Total RNA samples were
prepared from CdCl2-treated JPX-9 cells at the indicated
time points. The expression of Tax and MCP-1 in the extracted RNA was
analyzed by Northern blot and RT-PCR analysis, respectively.
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Elevated MCP-1 Levels in Culture Supernatants from HTLV-I-infected
T Cells.
We next measured production of MCP-1 in the culture supernatants from
HTLV-I-infected and uninfected T-cell lines by ELISA. As shown in Fig. 4A
, MCP-1 was produced at low levels by OMT cells and at very
high levels by C5/MJ, MT-2, and HPB-ATL-O. MCP-1 was not produced in
uninfected cell lines. MCP-1, thus, was not only expressed but also
secreted by HTLV-I-infected T-cell lines. Furthermore, we measured
production of MCP-1 in culture supernatants of JPX-9 with or without
CdCl2 treatment (Fig. 4B)
. Thus,
consistent with the ability of Tax to induce the transcription of the
MCP-1 gene, the actual MCP-1 chemokine can be produced and
secreted by Tax-expressing cells.

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Fig. 4. A, measurements of MCP-1 secreted in the
culture supernatants of human T-cell lines by ELISA. The indicated cell
lines were plated at 5 x 105/ml, and
culture supernatants were collected after 72 h. B,
induction of MCP-1 in JPX-9 cells after CdCl2 induced Tax
expression. JPX-9 cells inoculated at 5 x 105/ml were treated with or without 20 µM
CdCl2 for the indicated durations. MCP-1 secreted in the
culture supernatants was quantified by using ELISA.
Bars, SD.
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Transactivation of the MCP-1 Promoter by Tax.
To examine whether the MCP-1 promoter/enhancer responds to Tax, we
cotransfected Tax together with LUC reporters under the control of the
MCP-1 5' regulatory sequences. Structural features of the human MCP-1
promoter have been described recently (33
, 43 , 44)
.
Although basal promoter activity is dependent on a proximal promoter
region containing an SP-1 site, cytokine-inducible promoter activity is
mainly mediated by a distal enhancer region
(Fig. 7)
. Two NF-
B
binding sites (A1 and A2), which are crucial for enhancer activity,
have been identified in the distal enhancer region (33
, 43
, 44)
. Therefore, we used an MCP-1 promoter/enhancer LUC
construct, pGLM-ENH, containing the enhancer (between -2742 and
-2513) and promoter regions (between -107 and +60) of the human
MCP-1 promoter to test for Tax responsiveness [Fig. 5
and see Fig. 7
and Ueda et al. (33)
for
details]. As shown in Fig. 5
, wild-type Tax caused an 11-fold
stimulation of the pGLM-ENH reporter construct in Jurkat cells. Because
the pGLM-PRM reporter, containing only the proximal MCP-1 promoter
region, was not responsive to Tax, we conclude that the Tax-responsive
target sites are localized in the MCP-1 distal enhancer. Importantly,
the Tax M22 plasmid, which is defective for NF-
B activation, failed
to activate pGLM-ENH (Fig. 5)
. This mutant of Tax maintained the
ability to transactivate the HTLV-I LTR (Fig. 5)
. These results
indicated that Tax most likely activates the MCP-1 distal enhancer
through the NF-
B pathway.

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Fig. 6. Functional effects of I B and I Bß mutants
and kinase-deficient IKK , IKKß, and NIK mutants on HTLV-I Tax
induction of the MCP-1 distal enhancer in Jurkat cells. Cells were
transfected with 5 µg of Tax (pH2R40M), 5 µg of the I B
mutant I B N, I B mutant I Bß N, the K44M mutant of
IKK , the K44A mutant of IKK ß, or the kinase-deficient KK429/430AA
mutant of NIK, and 0.2 µg of pGLM-ENH, the B-LUC, or the HTLV-I
LTR LUC reporter plasmid. Each transfection also contained 0.4 µg of
pRL-TK and was supplemented to 5 µg with the parental pCMV4 vector.
LUC activity is presented as fold induction relative to the basal level
measured in cells transfected with pH2Rneo. The values are means
from three independent experiments; bars, SD.
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Tax-mediated Activation of the MCP-1 Distal Enhancer Can Be Blocked
by Dominant Interfering Signaling Components of the NF-
B Pathway.
We next examined whether blocking of the NF-
B pathway can affect
Tax-induced transactivation of the MCP-1 distal enhancer by using
dominant interfering mutants of I
B
and I
Bß and
kinase-deficient mutants of IKK
, IKKß, and NIK. As controls for
these experiments, the effects of these mutants on Tax-mediated
activation of the HTLV-I LTR and a multimerized NF-
B site from the
IL-2R
promoter (
B-LUC) were evaluated in parallel. Consistent
with previous findings (20
, 21)
, transfection of these
mutant vectors resulted in inhibition of Tax activation of
B-LUC
activity (Fig. 6)
. In contrast, these mutants produced no significant inhibition of
Tax-induced HTLV-I LTR LUC activity. Finally, these mutants were
cotransfected along with the wild-type Tax plasmid and the pGLM-ENH. As
shown in Fig. 6
, the elevated LUC activity in response to Tax was
markedly suppressed by cotransfection with the dominant interfering
mutants. These results confirmed that the NF-
B pathway was involved
in Tax-induced transactivation of the MCP-1 distal enhancer.
Cooperation between the A1 and A2 Sites of the MCP-1 Distal
Enhancer in Tax-induced Activation.
Two NF-
B binding sites (A1 and A2) have been identified in the
distal enhancer region of the MCP-1 gene, which are crucial
for enhancer activity (33
, 43
, 44)
. To investigate the
role of the A1 site and a possible cooperation with the A2 site in Tax
transactivation, the sequences of the A1 and the A2 sites were mutated
(Fig. 7)
. The A1 and A2 mutant reporter constructs were cotransfected along
with the Tax expression plasmid. As shown in Fig. 7
, Tax-induced LUC
activity was significantly reduced by mutation in either the A1 or A2
sequences, indicating that Tax transactivation of the MCP-1 distal
enhancer involves both A1 and A2 sites. These results suggest that both
the A1 and the A2 sites are important for Tax-induced MCP-1
gene transcription.
Binding of NF-
B/Rel Family Proteins to the A1 and A2
B
Elements of the MCP-1 Distal Enhancer.
We next examined whether NF-
B/Rel family members can actually bind
to the putative A1 and A2
B elements identified in the MCP-1 distal
enhancer by EMSA. Synthetic oligonucleotides containing the A1 site
(-2640 to -2632 relative to the MCP-1 transcription start site) and
the A2 site (-2612 to -2603) of the MCP-1 distal enhancer were used
as probes. When the A1 site was used as a probe, a clear shifted band
was observed with nuclear extracts from HTLV-I-infected T-cell lines
but not with uninfected cell nuclear extracts (Fig. 8A
, Lanes 17). This shifted complex was specific
to the A1 fragment because complex formation was competed away by
addition of excess cold probe and the typical NF-
B sequence of the
IL-2R
enhancer and also by probe A2 but not by a mutant sequence of
A1 (Fig. 8B
, Lanes 15). The A2 probe
essentially showed the same pattern of complex formation as probe A1
(Fig. 8A
, Lanes 814, and Fig. 8B
,
Lanes 610). To identify which NF-
B/Rel family members
were binding to the A1 and A2 elements of the MCP-1 distal enhancer, we
performed EMSA using antibodies specific for members of the NF-
B/Rel
family. Supershifts were seen with anti-p65 and anti-p50 antibodies in
complexes formed with both probes A1 and A2, illustrating that these
complexes contain the p50 and p65 subunits of NF-
B (Fig. 8C)
.
To examine which NF-
B/Rel family members Tax was inducing to
associate with the A1 and A2 elements of the MCP-1 distal enhancer, we
performed an EMSA analysis using nuclear extracts from the
Tax-inducible T-cell line, JPX-9. Induction of Tax expression resulted
in induction of complex formation with probes A1 and A2 (Fig. 9A)
. This binding was competed away by the typical NF-
B
sequence derived from the IL-2R
enhancer but not by mutant sequences
of the A1 and A2 elements (Fig. 9B)
. The Tax-induced
complexes identified by the A1 and A2 probes were also characterized.
These complexes were supershifted by the addition of anti-p50 or
anti-p65 antibodies (Fig. 9C)
. Thus, Tax induces
MCP-1 gene expression, at least in part, through the induced
binding of the p50 and p65 NF-
B/Rel family members to the A1 and A2
elements of the MCP-1 distal enhancer.
 |
DISCUSSION
|
|---|
This study has revealed that HTLV-I infection of T cells leads to
a marked increase in the transcription of the MCP-1 gene
resulting from transactivation by the viral Tax protein. Consistent
with this finding, HTLV-I-infected and Tax-expressing T cells secrete
the MCP-1 chemokine. MCP-1 is induced by proinflammatory cytokines and
growth factors (9
, 10)
. Molecular studies from a number of
laboratories have identified some of the cis-regulatory
elements and trans-acting factors involved in this response.
Two NF-
B binding sites (A1 and A2) located
2.6 kb from the
transcription initiation site appear to function as the critical
elements in MCP-1 induction in response to IL-1ß and tumor necrosis
factor-
(33
, 43
, 44)
. Additional elements in proximity
of these
B sites (45
, 46)
and a 7-bp response element
situated with the 3' untranslated region of the MCP-1 transcript
(47)
are also involved in the regulation of
MCP-1 gene expression, in response to platelet-derived
growth factor. Thus, this distal group of regulatory elements plays a
significant role in MCP-1 gene transcription. Tax is known
to activate NF-
B by activating IKKs and other related molecules
(18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
. Our finding that a Tax mutant defective in
NF-
B activation (M22) was unable to transactivate the MCP-1 distal
enhancer together with the observation that dominant-negative I
Bs,
IKKs, and NIK expression plasmids blocked Tax transactivation of this
same enhancer allowed us to conclude that the activation of the
MCP-1 gene by the HTLV-I Tax protein involves primarily the
NF-
B pathway. The observation that binding of NF-
B transcription
factors to both A1 and A2 sites and reduction of activity of the MCP-1
promoter by mutation in either element is consistent with Tax requiring
the NF-
B pathway to transactivate the MCP-1 promoter/enhancer.
Pathological roles for MCP-1 in HTLV-I-associated diseases are not
known. MCP-1 is mainly produced by monocytes and not by T cells.
However, we demonstrated that aberrant MCP-1 expression was restricted
to T cells expressing HTLV-I. We, therefore, speculated that
deregulated MCP-1 expression in HTLV-I-infected cells may represent an
important pathogenic determinant in HTLV-I-associated diseases. One of
the characteristic features of HTLV-I-associated diseases is prominent
tissue infiltration of lymphoid cells. For example, ATL is frequently
accompanied by lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and skin lesions.
Similarly, major pathological changes in HAM/TSP are marked
infiltration of HTLV-I-infected T cells around small vessels in the
spinal cord. MCP-1 has been considered as an important mediator that
specifically stimulates directional migration of T cells and
monocytes/macrophages. MCP-1 has also been shown to modulate leukocyte
adhesion molecule expression and other leukocyte functions that are
necessary for leukocytes to leave the circulation and infiltrate
tissues. Aberrant production of MCP-1 by leukemic cells in ATL or
HTLV-I-infected T-cells in HAM/TSP may promote influx of lymphoid cells
into the affected tissues.
In summary, this study allowed identification of mechanisms by which
MCP-1 expression is deregulated by the pathogenic human retrovirus
HTLV-I. Additional studies of the potential function of MCP-1 in
HTLV-I-infected T cells may provide important insights into the
pathogenesis of HTLV-I infection.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
|
|---|
We thank Drs. M. Hatanaka, K. Matsumoto, I. Futsuki, J.
Fujisawa, and D. W. Ballard for providing pH2Rneo, pH2R40M;
pHßAPr-1-neo, pß MT-2Tax, pßTaxM22; LTR-LUC;
B-LUC; and
I
B
N, I
Bß
N, respectively. We also thank Dr. M. Nakamura
for providing JPX-9 and JPX-9/M and Fujisaki Cell Center, Hayashibara
Biochemical Laboratories, Inc. (Okayama, Japan) for providing Jurkat
and C5/MJ cell lines. We are grateful to M. Yamamoto and M. Sasaki for
excellent technical assistance.
 |
FOOTNOTES
|
|---|
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 To whom requests for reprints should be
addressed, at Department of Preventive Medicine and AIDS Research,
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4, Sakamoto,
Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan. Phone: 81-95-849-7846; Fax: 81-95-849-7805;
E-mail: n-mori{at}net.nagasaki-u.ac.jp 
2 The abbreviations used are: HTLV-I, human T-cell
leukemia virus type I; ATL, adult T-cell leukemia; HAM/TSP,
HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis; MCP-1,
monocyte chemoattractant protein-1; IL, interleukin; LTR, long terminal
repeat; LUC, luciferase; NF, nuclear factor; IKK, I
B kinase; NIK,
NF-
B-inducing kinase; RT-PCR, reverse transcription-PCR; R,
receptor; EMSA, electrophoretic mobility shift assay; PBMC, peripheral
blood mononuclear cell. 
Received 2/28/00.
Accepted 6/20/00.
 |
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