The effect of HTLV-1 bZIP factor (HBZ) RNA and protein in mouse CD4 T cells. Mus musculus

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) bZIP factor (HBZ) which is encoded in the minus strand of HTLV-1 provirus, possesses dual function as protein, and also as RNA. To know the effect of HBZ RNA and protein in primary T-cells, we introduced HBZ, or its mutant TTG (exclude protein activity), or SM (exclude RNA activity) with retrovirus vector into CD4 positive murine T cells, and analysed the transcriptome profiling. We found that HBZ RNA altered cell cycle progression, cell survival related genes, while HBZ protein altered immunology related genes. This microarray results demonstrated that HBZ RNA and protein possess distinct functions in primary cells. Overall design: CD4 positive cells were enriched from murine splenocyte, and cultured with irradiated antigen presenting cells (APC). HBZ, or its mutant were introduced with retroviral vector. Forty eight hours after introduction, cells were washed and cultured with recombinant human IL-2. Further 48 hours after culture, virus infected cells were sorted and analysed by agilent microarray.