Epithelial expression and chromosomal location of human TLE genes: implications for notch signaling and neoplasia.

The TLE genes are the human homologues of Drosophila groucho, a member of the Notch signaling pathway. This pathway controls a number of different cell-fate choices in invertebrates and vertebrates. We are interested in investigating the functions of the TLE gene family during epithelial determination and carcinogenesis. We show that expression of individual TLE genes correlates with immature epithelial cells that are progressing toward their terminally differentiated state, suggesting a role during epithelial differentiation. In both normal tissues and conditions resulting from incorrect or incomplete maturation events, such as metaplastic and neoplastic transformations, TLE expression is elevated and coincides with Notch expression, implicating these molecules in the maintenance of the undifferentiated state in epithelial cells. We also show that TLE1 and TLE2 are organized in a tandem array at chromosomal location 19p13.3, while TLE3 maps to 15q22.

TLE expression correlates with mouse embryonic segmentation, neurogenesis, and epithelial determination.

The TLE proteins are the mammalian homologues of Groucho, a member of the Drosophila Notch signaling pathway. Notch signaling controls the differentiation of a variety of tissues in invertebrates and vertebrates. We are investigating the role of the TLE genes during mammalian development. We show that TLE 1 and TLE 3 are expressed during a number of cell-determination events, including embryonic segmentation, central and peripheral neurogenesis, and epithelial differentiation. This expression pattern is in agreement with the involvement of Groucho in similar fate choices in Drosophila and suggests that Groucho and TLE proteins perform similar developmental roles. Our results also show that TLE genes are co-expressed during a variety of cell-fate choices with several vertebrate homologues of genes implicated in the Drosophila Notch cascade, suggesting a role for the TLE proteins in mammalian Notch signaling.

Infection of human natural killer (NK) cells with replication-defective human T cell leukemia virus type I provirus. Increased proliferative capacity and prolonged survival of functionally competent NK cells.

Human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) can infect a variety of human cell types, but only T lymphocytes are efficiently immortalized after HTLV-I infection. This study reports an attempt to infect and to immortalize NK cells with HTLV-I. Co-cultivation of freshly isolated NK cells with a HTLV-I-producing T cell line did not result in NK cell infection. However, NK cells activated with an anti-CD16 mAb and co-cultivated with a HTLV-I-producing T cell line were reproducibly infected by HTLV-I. HTLV-I infection was documented in NK cell lines and clones by the detection of defective integrated provirus by both Southern blot and polymerase chain reaction analysis. Although HTLV-I-infected NK cells produced viral proteins, they did not produce infectious viral particles. HTLV-I-infected NK cells were phenotypically indistinguishable from their uninfected counterparts (CD16+, CD2+, CD56+, CD3-). They also retained the ability to mediate both natural and antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity. The IL-2-dependent proliferation of HTLV-I-infected NK cells was significantly greater than that of uninfected NK cells. The doubling time of this infected population was reduced from 9 days to 3 days, and the overall survival of the culture in the absence of restimulation was extended from 5 wk to 18 wk. Unlike T lymphocytes, HTLV-I-infected NK cells were not immortal, implying a fundamental difference between these two lymphocyte populations.

Inhibition of replication of HIV-1 by retroviral vectors expressing tat-antisense and anti-tat ribozyme RNA.

A ribozyme was constructed that specifically cleaves RNA that contains the first coding exon of the tat gene of HIV-1. This anti-tat ribozyme was incorporated into a Moloney murine leukemia virus vector. A sequence containing only the 48-nucleotide antisense region of the ribozyme was also inserted into the retroviral vector. Human T-cell lines constitutively producing the tat-antisense and the anti-tat ribozyme RNA were created by transduction into Jurkat cells. When challenged with HIV-1, both the tat-antisense and anti-tat ribozyme-producing cells inhibited the replication of HIV-1. The antisense vector conferred a greater resistance to HIV-1 replication than did the anti-tat ribozyme vector.

Human immunodeficiency virus vpr product is a virion-associated regulatory protein.

The vpr product of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) acts in trans to accelerate virus replication and cytopathic effect in T cells. Here it is shown that the HIV-1 viral particle contains multiple copies of the vpr protein. The vpr product is the first regulatory protein of HIV-1 to be found in the virus particle. This observation raises the possibility that vpr acts to facilitate the early steps of infection before de novo viral protein synthesis occurs.

The T open reading frame of human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

Sequence analysis of multiple isolates of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reveals the existence of a conserved open reading frame, designated T, that partially overlaps the tat, rev, and vpu coding sequences. Here we show that in vitro translation of RNA derived from this region of the viral genome yields a 17 kDa fusion protein, the result of a minus one frameshift event in the overlap between the tat and T open reading frames. It is also shown that messenger RNA species accumulate in HIV-1 infection from which the 17 kDa protein can be made. These observations suggest that ribosomal frameshift events may result in the biosynthesis of viral regulatory as well as viral structural proteins.