The 5' coding sequence of IL-2 receptor alpha chain mRNA mediates mRNA stabilization by HTLV-1 Rex.

The interleukin-2 receptor alpha chain (IL-2R alpha) is a T-cell growth factor receptor and is known to be induced in helper T cells by infection with human T-cell leukaemia virus type-1 (HTLV-1). The Rex protein of HTLV-1 has been shown to stabilize IL-2R alpha mRNA. Although the 3' untranslated region of many RNA has been regarded as a key element for stabilization, we found that the first 300 bases of the IL-2R alpha protein coding sequence were necessary for stabilization of the mRNA. As the first 201 bases were not sufficient for this effect, we conclude that the bases at position 201-300 downstream of the AUG start are important for stabilization.