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Journal of Virology, July 2006, p. 6657-6668, Vol. 80, No. 13
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.02270-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Interdepartmental Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza MS-385, Houston, Texas 77030
Received 27 October 2005/ Accepted 14 April 2006
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B, and SRF pathways (61). In addition to interacting with and altering the activity of cellular transcription factors, Tax has been shown to increase the genomic instability (36) and mutation frequency (40-42) of the host cell, in part by repressing DNA repair mechanisms (28, 40, 49) and dysregulating cell cycle progression (17).
Pleiotropic functions of Tax, which are propagated through interactions with cellular proteins, have been shown to contribute to cellular transformation. Tax is predominantly a nuclear protein that localizes, along with a number of cellular proteins, to heterogeneous nuclear foci known as Tax speckled structures (TSS). These structures contain a variety of cellular proteins, including transcription factors, splicing cofactors, and DNA damage recognition and cell cycle regulatory proteins (4, 19, 51, 55). Tax has been reported to interact with more than 20 cellular proteins, including a number of cytoplasmic proteins, such as MEKK1, MAD1, CBP, RelA, and I
B kinase subunits, as well as other nuclear proteins that are not found in TSS, including p16INK4a and p15INK4b (3, 26, 58, 60). Interactions of Tax with these proteins have profound effects on normal host cell processes and in many cases have been shown to be essential for or to enhance cellular transformation.
TSS composition and Tax protein interactions are dynamic, and changes in these interactions due to cellular or other environmental cues are likely to enhance the oncogenic properties of Tax. The ability of Tax to shuttle between the nucleus and cytoplasm may contribute to its oncogenic activity by facilitating changes in interacting partners under certain conditions (6). Nuclear localization and nuclear export sequences (NES) have been identified within the Tax protein, and these sequences are believed to modulate the nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of Tax (1, 52). However, neither the condition(s) that regulates the cycling of Tax between the nucleus and the cytoplasm nor the mechanism of Tax export from the nucleus has been identified. Here we report that Tax translocates to the cytoplasm in response to genotoxic and cellular stress. This translocation results in altered interactions between Tax and cellular proteins. We further demonstrate that Tax translocation following stress requires the CRM1 (chromosome region maintenance 1) nuclear export pathway and that functional mutations in the Tax nuclear export sequence inhibit cytoplasmic translocation following stress. This study provides the first evidence that the localization and interacting partners of Tax are regulated in response to stress and identifies a mechanism and domain within Tax that is required for this translocation. Changes in Tax localization and its interactions with cellular proteins in response to genotoxic and cellular stresses may contribute to or enhance the oncogenic activity of Tax.
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Antibodies.
Anti-Tax antibodies (Tab170 and 586) were previously described (AIDS Research and Reference Reagent Program, Germantown, MD). Anti-CRM1 antibodies (H-300 and C-20) were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA). Anti-sc35 antibody was purchased from BD-Pharmacia (San Diego, CA). Alexa-Fluor 594-conjugated goat anti-rabbit and Alexa-Fluor 488-conjugated goat anti-mouse secondary antibodies were purchased from Molecular Probes (Eugene, OR). Anti-
-tubulin and horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibodies were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO).
Cellular stress. For UV irradiation, medium was removed from plates and cells were washed once with phosphate-buffered saline. A Stratalinker instrument (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA) was used to deliver 30 J/m2 of UV-C irradiation. The original medium was then replaced, and the cells were allowed to recover for a specified length of time. For ionizing radiation, cells were grown on 60-mm2 plates, exposed to 10 grays of radiation, and allowed to recover for a specified length of time. Sorbitol, anisomycin, sodium arsenite, hydrogen peroxide, SB203580, SP600125, and PD098059 were added directly to either DMEM or RPMI medium at the concentrations shown in Table 1. Cells were incubated in the presence of these agents for the specified lengths of time. For heat shock, cells were incubated at 42°C for 90 min.
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TABLE 1. Summary of stress conditions and Tax localization
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Propidium iodide staining. Cells (1 x 106) were resuspended in 2 ml of 0.9% NaCl and then fixed with 5 ml of 95% ethanol. Fixed cells were incubated at room temperature for at least 30 min and stored at 4°C. For staining, the cell pellet was resuspended in 0.5 ml of 50-µg/ml propidium iodide (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) and 0.1 ml of 1-mg/ml RNase A (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO). A flow cytometer (Epic Profile; Coulter, Colorado) was used to analyze cell cycle distribution. The percentage of cells in each phase of the cell cycle was determined using ModFit (Verity, Topsham, ME).
Cellular extracts. Whole-cell extracts were prepared as previously described (9, 45) with a few modifications. Briefly, 1 x 107 cells were resuspended in 20 ml of ice-cold buffer C (20 mM HEPES [pH 7.9], 25% glycerol, 0.42 M NaCl, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 0.2 mM EDTA, 0.5 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride [PMSF], 0.5 mM dithiothreitol [DTT]) plus 0.1% NP-40, incubated on ice for 10 min, and centrifuged for 10 min at 10,000 rpm at 4°C. The supernatant was diluted with 80 µl of ice-cold buffer D (20 mM HEPES [pH 7.9], 20% glycerol, 50 mM KCl, 0.2 mM EDTA, 0.5 mM PMSF, 0.5 mM DTT) per 1 x 107 cells.
Immunofluorescent staining. CREF-Tax cells were seeded on ethanol-washed coverslips and grown to approximately 50% confluence before exposure to genotoxic conditions. C81-66 and HuT102 cells were grown in suspension, exposed to genotoxic conditions, collected by centrifugation (1,000 rpm for 10 min), washed and resuspended in phosphate-buffered saline, and then cytospun (Shandon Cytospin3) onto ethanol-washed coverslips (1,000 rpm for 1 min). The cells were washed once with PEM buffer {80 mM potassium PIPES [piperazine-N,N'-bis(2-ethanesulfonic acid)] [pH 6.8], 5 mM EGTA [pH 7.0], 2 mM MgCl2} and fixed by incubation in 5% formaldehyde diluted in PEM buffer for 30 min at 4°C. To remove excess formaldehyde, cells were washed three times in PEM buffer and permeabilized by incubation in PEM buffer containing 0.5% Triton X-100 for 30 min at room temperature. Immunofluorescent staining was performed by incubation with primary antibody diluted in 2.5 to 5% bovine serum albumin containing TBS plus 0.1% Tween 20 (TBS-T) for a minimum of 3 h at room temperature. Excess antibody was removed by washing cells three times in TBS-T. Cells were incubated in the dark with a fluorophore-conjugated secondary antibody diluted in TBS-T for 40 min at room temperature. Excess antibody was removed by washing the coverslips three times with TBS-T. The cells were counterstained with DAPI (4',6'-diamidino-2-phenylindole) (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) to visualize the nucleus and mounted on slides using Slow-Fade antifade mounting medium (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR). Cells were visualized with a Zeiss AxioPlan2 microscope by use of a CoolSnap HQ charge-coupled-device camera and analyzed using MetaView MetaMorph software. For deconvolved images (see Fig. 4), an Applied Precision microscope with SoftWoRx image restoration software was utilized.
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FIG. 4. Colocalization between Tax and sc35 is disrupted in response to UV irradiation. In the absence of stress (A to C), CREF-Tax cells demonstrate sc35 nuclear foci (green) (A), Tax nuclear foci (red) (B), and nuclear colocalization of sc35 and Tax (yellow speckles) (C). After UV irradiation (D to F), CREF-Tax cells demonstrate sc35 nuclear foci (D) and predominantly cytoplasmic Tax localization (E), and Tax and sc35 fail to colocalize (F). These results were consistent for each type of stress examined (Table 1). All images were taken at a magnification of x63. Panels A to C have been digitally magnified x1.5 to show detail.
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1.5 x 107) that had been transfected with either pCMV-Tax or pCMV-M33. The extracts were incubated with either anti-Tax (568) or anti-CRM1 (H-300) antibodies diluted in incubation buffer (20 mM HEPES [pH 7.9], 75 mM KCl, 2.5 mM MgCl2, 1 mM DTT, 0.1% NP-40, 0.5 mM PMSF, 1 µg/ml aprotinin, 1 µg/ml pepstatin, 2 µg/ml leupeptin, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate) overnight at 4°C on a rotator. Thirty microliters of a 50% protein G-bead slurry (Upstate, Lake Placid, NY) was added to the mixture, and the mixture was incubated for 90 min at 4°C. Beads were collected by centrifugation, washed five times with 500 µl of incubation buffer, and resuspended in 100 µl sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis sample buffer. Samples were resolved by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (10%), transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane, and incubated with either anti-Tax (Tab170) or anti-Crm1 (C-20) antibodies. The membrane was then incubated with the appropriate horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody. Leptomycin B treatment. Leptomycin B (LMB) (LC Laboratories, Woburn, MA) was resuspended in absolute ethanol and added at the described concentrations directly to the medium (DMEM) containing CREF-Tax cells. The cells were incubated at 37°C for 1 h and then exposed to the specified genotoxic conditions.
CHX treatment. Cycloheximide (CHX) (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) was resuspended in absolute ethanol and added at the described concentrations directly to the medium (DMEM) containing CREF-Tax cells. The cells were incubated for the specified lengths of time and then exposed to the described genotoxic conditions.
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FIG. 1. UV irradiation alters Tax localization. Asynchronously growing CREF-Tax (A and B), C81-66 (C and D), and HuT102 (E and F) cells were stained with anti-Tax antibodies alone (left) or together with DAPI staining to identify nuclei (right) and visualized by immunofluorescent microscopy. The percentages of CREF-Tax cells expressing TSS were plotted over time (G). At each time point, 15 fields of cells were categorized as expressing nuclear (TSS) or cytoplasmic Tax based on the presence or absence of cytoplasmic Tax and the number of nuclear foci present compared to the mean number of TSS found in unstressed CREF-Tax cells. Cells were categorized as expressing TSS when the number of speckles per cell was within 1 standard deviation of the calculated mean; cells were considered cytoplasmic when cytoplasmic Tax was present and the number of TSS was more than 1 standard deviation from the mean. All images were taken at a magnification of x63.
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Since multiple DNA-damaging agents altered Tax localization in similar ways, the effects of other types of cellular stress on Tax distribution were examined (Table 1). The effects of sorbitol, which causes osmotic stress, of anisomycin, an inhibitor of protein translation and activator of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways, or of heat shock, a destabilizer of tertiary protein conformation on Tax localization, were similar to the effects observed following UV and ionizing irradiation (Table 1). Cytoplasmic localization of Tax was stress dependent, because agents that do not induce stress (diluted media, ethanol, and MAPK-specific inhibitors SB203580, SP600125, and PD098059) did not affect the subcellular distribution of Tax. These results demonstrate that Tax localization is affected by genotoxic and cellular stress and that altered Tax localization is a consistent outcome following exposure to each form of stress examined.
Translation inhibition does not affect stress-induced Tax redistribution. The decrease in nuclear Tax and accumulation of cytoplasmic Tax observed following stress could result from Tax export out of the nucleus or from localized Tax degradation in the nucleus with concomitant Tax synthesis in the cytoplasm. To determine if new translation contributed to the appearance of Tax in the cytoplasm, CREF-Tax cells were treated with the translational inhibitor CHX for 30 minutes prior to either mock or UV irradiation, and Tax localization was examined by immunofluorescent microscopy. CHX treatment alone did not affect Tax localization (compare Fig. 2A [94.8% ± 2.2% cells express TSS] and C [94.3% ± 1.2% cells express TSS]). Importantly, CHX treatment did not reduce the accumulation of Tax in the cytoplasm of UV-irradiated cells (compare Fig. 2B and D). Consistent with our previous results (Fig. 1), very few (6.9% ± 2.3% mock-treated [Fig. 2B] versus 7.1% ± 1.2% CHX-treated [Fig. 2D]) UV-irradiated cells expressed TSS (Fig. 2E). These results indicate that new protein synthesis is not required for Tax to accumulate in the cytoplasm following stress and suggest that cytoplasmic Tax results from Tax transport out of the nucleus after stress.
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FIG. 2. Translational inhibition does not affect stress-induced Tax redistribution. CREF-Tax cells were either mock treated (A and B) or treated with 50 µg/ml of CHX (C and D) and then mock irradiated (A and C) or exposed to 30 J/m2 of UV (B and D). The localization of Tax was examined by immunofluorescent microscopy done without (left) or with (right) DAPI staining. Images are shown at a magnification of x63. Cells were scored for TSS composition (n 500 cells per condition; three trials) (E). CREF-Tax cellular Tax levels were examined over a 7-h time course following UV irradiation alone (F) or CHX treatment alone (G) or in the presence of both CHX and UV irradiation (H). ND, no drug; NS, no stress.
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Tax localization is not affected by cell cycle progression. Tax was recently shown to interfere with the G1/S-phase cell cycle checkpoint that is typically induced in response to UV irradiation (20). Tax can also interact with and affect the activity of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins that regulate normal cell cycle progression (26, 29, 37, 38). Therefore, we wanted to determine whether normal cell cycle progression was associated with any changes in Tax localization. To address this question, CREF-Tax cells were synchronized in the quiescent (G0) stage of the cell cycle by contact inhibition. Cells were released into the cell cycle by splitting into new plates containing sterile coverslips. At specific time points following G0-phase release, the coverslips were stained for Tax. Cells remaining on the dish were collected for propidium iodide staining and cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry. No difference in subcellular Tax distributions was observed in cells enriched in the G0/G1, S, or G2/M phases of the cell cycle (Fig. 3A to C). In each phase of the cell cycle, nearly all cells (>99%) showed a predominantly nuclear distribution of Tax, demonstrating that Tax localization is not affected during normal cell cycle progression.
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FIG. 3. Normal cell cycle progression does not affect Tax localization. CREF-Tax cells were synchronized in the G0 phase of the cell cycle, released, and stained at the indicated cell cycle phases to examine Tax localization alone by immunofluorescent microscopy (left) or Tax localization together with DAPI staining to identify nuclei (center). Cell cycle phase was determined by propidium iodide staining and flow cytometry (right). G0/G1 (A), S (B), and G2/M (C) phases of the cycle are shown. All images were taken at a magnification of x63.
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We next examined of the effect of genotoxic stress on the colocalization of Tax and sc35. As shown in Fig. 1, Tax rapidly translocated to the cytoplasm following UV irradiation (Fig. 4E), while sc35 localization remained nuclear (Fig. 4D). As a result, a marked decrease in the number of overlapping foci was observed in the merged image following UV irradiation (Fig. 4F), suggesting a reduced interaction between Tax and sc35 following stress. These results are consistent with the previous report that heat shock disrupts the interaction between Tax and sc35 (51). When TSS re-formed 8 hours after UV irradiation (Fig. 1G), the percentage of speckles containing both Tax and sc35 (48.8% ± 4.3%) was similar to that seen in unirradiated cells (51.3% ± 0.8%). These results were consistent for each type of stress examined in this study (data not shown), suggesting that genotoxic stress and cellular stress affect both the localization of Tax and the interactions of Tax with cellular proteins.
Stress-induced changes in Tax localization are LMB sensitive. The functions and activities of many cellular and viral proteins depend upon their subcellular distributions (23). Nuclear export of protein macromolecules is regulated by interactions with specific nuclear export proteins. These interactions are controlled by NES located in the cargo protein (18, 44). A leucine-rich NES characterized by the canonical sequence LX2-3(L/I/M/V/F)X2-3LX(L/I), where X is any amino acid, was recently identified at amino acids 188 to 202 of Tax (1, 12, 57). In most cases, nuclear export of leucine-rich NES-containing proteins is regulated through an interaction with the nuclear export factor CRM1 (11, 14, 15, 53). When conjugated to green fluorescent protein, export of the Tax NES is CRM1 dependent. However, full-length Tax protein does not utilize this pathway under normal conditions, leading to speculation that the Tax NES is conditionally masked and that a conformational change in the protein, either through posttranslational modification or through protein interactions, is required to expose the NES (1).
To test the possibility that stress-induced changes in Tax localization involved a CRM1-dependent pathway, cells were pretreated with a CRM1 inhibitor (LMB) that interacts with CRM1 and prevents its binding to the NES of the cargo protein (31, 32). Proteins that require the CRM1 nuclear export pathway remain sequestered in the nucleus of LMB-treated cells. To examine the effect of LMB on Tax localization, CREF-Tax cells were pretreated with LMB or a control for 1 hour before exposure to genotoxic agents. Pretreatment of cells with an ethanol control did not affect the typical distribution of Tax in the absence (Fig. 5A) or presence (Fig. 5B) of stress. Consistent with previous studies (1), LMB alone had no obvious effect on Tax localization (Fig. 5C), suggesting that the normal distribution of Tax between the nucleus and cytoplasm of undamaged cells does not involve the CRM1 pathway. However, pretreatment of cells with LMB blocked the expected increase in cytoplasmic Tax following genotoxic stress. Instead, Tax remained in nuclear speckles (Fig. 5D). Consistent with our previous data, after a 30-min recovery period, most (99.3% ± 0.5%) unstressed and only a small percentage (7.3% ± 2.3%) of UV-irradiated CREF-Tax cells expressed TSS. In contrast, similar percentages of cells expressing TSS were observed in unirradiated (99.2% ± 0.4%) and UV-irradiated (97.8% ± 1.4%) CREF-Tax cells pretreated with LMB (Fig. 5E). Similar results were observed for each type of stress examined (data not shown), demonstrating that Tax translocation following genotoxic and cellular stress is LMB sensitive and suggesting that the CRM1 nuclear export pathway is involved in this process.
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FIG. 5. LMB affects Tax localization following stress. CREF-Tax cells were incubated in the absence (A and B) or presence (C and D) of 10 nM LMB for 1 h before exposure to UV stress (B and D). Twenty fields of CREF-Tax cells exposed to each condition were scored for nuclear or cytoplasmic Tax localization (E). All images were taken at a magnification of x63.
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FIG. 6. Tax NES-defective mutant M33 does not change localization following UV irradiation. Wild-type (A and B), M33 (C and D), or M47 (E and F) Tax (pCMV-Tax, pCMV-M33, or pCMV-M47) was transiently expressed in 293 cells for 48 h and subjected to 30-J/m2 UV irradiation (B, D, and F) or mock irradiated (A, C, and E) and allowed to recover for 30 min. sc35 (left column) and Tax (left-center column) localizations were visualized by immunofluorescent microscopy separately, together (right-center column), or together with DAPI (right column). Five hundred transfected cells, in three independent experiments, were scored for Tax localization (G). All images are shown at a magnification of x63.
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FIG. 7. Tax and CRM1 interact in response to genotoxic stress. Wild-type Tax (lanes 1 to 4) or Tax mutant M33 (lanes 5 to 8) expressing 293 whole-cell lysates were immunoprecipitated (I.P.) with -CRM1 (A) or -Tax (B) antibodies. Lysates were derived from unstressed cells (lanes 1 and 5) or from cells exposed to sodium arsenite for 35 min (lanes 2 and 6), sorbitol for 35 min (lanes 3 and 7), or UV followed by a 20-min recovery (lanes 4 and 8). Western blotting was performed for Tax and CRM1 as indicated.
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Tax dissociates from sc35 before interacting with CRM1. We previously showed that Tax interacts with CRM1 following stress. To determine whether Tax dissociates from TSS before interacting with CRM1 or whether the interaction between Tax and CRM1 facilitates the separation of Tax from TSS, we examined the composition of Tax speckles in response to LMB treatment and UV irradiation. If Tax dissociates from TSS before interacting with CRM1, then colocalization of Tax and sc35 should not be seen following LMB treatment and UV irradiation. Alternatively, since LMB blocks the ability of CRM1 to interact with Tax, if an interaction between Tax and CRM1 is required to dissociate Tax from TSS, then Tax should remain associated with sc35 following UV irradiation.
CREF-Tax cells were pretreated with 10 nM LMB for 1 h, exposed to 30 J/m2 of UV irradiation or mock treated, and allowed to recover for 30 min. As expected, in the presence of LMB both sc35 (Fig. 8D) and Tax (Fig. 8E) were retained in nuclear speckles following UV irradiation. In contrast to unirradiated cells, which showed extensive colocalization of these two proteins (Fig. 8C), UV-irradiated cells showed significantly less colocalization of Tax and sc35 (Fig. 8F). UV irradiation induced a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the number of nuclear speckles containing only Tax (22.0% ± 1.4% unirradiated; 41.4% ± 1.7% irradiated) or only sc35 (18.3% ± 0.7% unirradiated; 51.1% ± 1.1% UV irradiated) and a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in the number of speckles containing both Tax and sc35 (59.7% ± 2.1% unirradiated; 7.5% ± 0.6% UV irradiated) (Fig. 8G). These results, together with the observation that M33 and sc35 do not colocalize following stress (Fig. 6D), suggest that stress causes Tax to be released from TSS, which allows it to interact with CRM1, and is required for nuclear export of Tax.
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FIG. 8. Reduced colocalization of Tax and CRM1 in nuclear speckles following LMB treatment and UV irradiation. CREF-Tax cells were incubated with 10 nM LMB for 1 h and then exposed to 30-J/m2 UV (D to F) or mock irradiated (A to C) and allowed to recover for 30 min. Cells were stained for sc35 (A and D) and Tax (B and E). The percentages of sc35 and Tax (C and F) colocalization are shown (G). All images are shown at a magnification of x63 and have been digitally magnified (x1.6) to show detail.
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It was previously suggested that the Tax NES is not accessible and that posttranslational modification of Tax, or changes in its protein partners, may be required to expose the NES (1). We demonstrated that Tax and sc35 fail to colocalize (Fig. 8) following UV irradiation. This result was confirmed using the NES-defective Tax mutant, M33, which also failed to colocalize with sc35 following UV irradiation (Fig. 6). These results suggest that in response to stress, Tax dissociates from TSS without requiring an interaction with CRM1. However, the release of Tax from TSS does allow Tax to interact with CRM1, which then facilitates the nuclear export of Tax following exposure to genotoxic or cellular stress.
Tax has been shown to be posttranslationally ubiquitinated and phosphorylated, and these modifications of Tax and/or other TSS proteins are likely to regulate Tax localization. Posttranslational phosphorylation or ubiquitination has been shown to regulate nuclear export of other cellular proteins through the CRM1 pathway (5, 7, 13, 24, 39, 47). Sumoylation and ubiquitination of Tax at specific residues have recently been shown to play an integral role in regulating the subcellular distribution and functions of Tax (33, 43). It is also possible that posttranslational modification of one or more Tax-interacting proteins in response to stress may cause them to dissociate from Tax and enable Tax to interact with CRM1. The specific role of these mechanisms in regulating the nuclear export of Tax remains to be determined.
Genotoxic and cellular stressors, including each of those utilized in this study (Table 1), have been shown to induce MAPK signaling pathways (10, 46, 50). Tax was not able to translocate to the cytoplasm in the presence of the MAPK inhibitors (Table 1). Since many other proteins known to undergo nucleocytoplasmic shuttling in response to stress require the activity of these pathways (10), the activation of MAPK signaling may be important for regulating Tax localization in response to stress. However, additional studies will be required to identify the pathway and mechanisms responsible for this effect.
Although a number of studies have demonstrated that Tax functions both in the nucleus and in the cytoplasm, its cytoplasmic functions in particular remain to be fully elucidated. Cytoplasmic Tax has been shown to modulate the activity of a number of cellular proteins and pathways. In particular, Tax has been shown to interact with and target the retinoblastoma protein for proteasomal degradation and to enhance activation of the NF-
B pathway through a variety of mechanisms, including activation of upstream kinases, interaction with and targeting of NF-
B inhibitors for proteasomal degradation, and direct interaction with the NF-
B transcription factor p65/RelA (3, 22, 54, 56, 60). Tax mutants that are deficient for cytoplasmic functions display a reduced transformation capacity (59), and the Tax M33 mutant, which is defective for nuclear export, is 50% less effective at repressing DNA repair than wild-type Tax (34). Therefore, transient cytoplasmic localization of Tax may interfere with the host response to genotoxic or cellular stress and have important implications for cellular transformation.
Tax-expressing cells do not efficiently repair DNA damage by either the nucleotide excision or the base excision DNA repair pathways (28, 49). In addition, Tax expression is associated with defects in cell cycle checkpoints (20). Together, these effects are believed to enhance a cell's propensity to accumulate mutations. Since lymphocytes are exposed to genotoxic and cellular stress on a regular basis (2, 8, 16, 25, 30, 48), HTLV-1-infected lymphocytes are likely to be susceptible to the introduction of mutations due to unrepaired DNA lesions. Indeed, Tax-expressing cells demonstrate higher gene amplification levels and higher mutation frequency than normal cells (36, 42). HTLV-1-infected cells and cells isolated from ATL patients also contain a large number of chromosomal abnormalities, including deletions, duplications, and translocations (17). Collectively, these results suggest that unrepaired DNA damage in Tax-expressing cells may contribute to cellular transformation and that changes in Tax localization due to genotoxic and cellular stress may enhance this process.
In summary, this study demonstrates that exposure of Tax-expressing cells to genotoxic or other forms of stress alters the subcellular distribution of Tax. Altered Tax localization may contribute to the enhanced mutation frequency observed in Tax-expressing cells by affecting DNA repair mechanisms and/or cell cycle progression and may ultimately play an important role in generating chromosomal abnormalities characteristic of HTLV-1 Tax-transformed cells and lymphocytes from ATL patients. Future studies to specifically address the biological consequences of Tax localization will likely reveal important insights into cellular transformation by this viral oncoprotein.
This study was supported, in part, by U.S. Public Service grant CA-77371 from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, awarded to S.J.M. M.L.G. is supported in part by National Institutes of Health Training Grant CA-09197 and a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research award.
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B proteins. J. Virol. 71:3484-3497.
B activation by the human T-cell leukemia virus Tax oncoprotein. Mol. Cell. Biol. 25:10391-10406.
B kinase (IKK) regulatory subunit IKK
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