Cellular transformation by human T-cell leukemia virus type I.

Human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) is an oncogenic retrovirus that was isolated in 1980 from a patient with adult T-cell leukemia. From the numerous experiments using infected patient T-cells, transgenic mice and tissue culture transformation assays, the Tax protein has been determined to be the transforming component of HTLV-I. Tax-mediated transformation is linked to its ability to transcriptionally regulate the expression of cellular genes involved in growth and proliferation. Ultimately, unregulated and continued activation of these important growth modulating genes by Tax leads to transformation.