Publications

Cotransfection of cDNA encoding the trans-activator gene product of human T-cell leukemia virus, type I (HTLV-I) (tat-I), which acts in trans to augment viral gene expression, has revealed strong regulatory effects of this viral protein on the inducible cellular promoters governing human interleukin 2 (IL-2) and IL-2 receptor (Tac) gene expression. The tat-I protein stimulates a 3- to 6-fold increase in IL-2 receptor (Tac) promoter activity in transfected Jurkat T cells, but not in the natural killer-like YT cell line, as measured by changes in the expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT; EC 2.3.1.28) reporter gene linked to this promoter. In contrast, tat-I alone has little or no effect on IL-2 promoter activity in Jurkat T cells but markedly synergizes with other mitogenic stimuli (phytohemagglutinin, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, or the OKT3 monoclonal antibody), which alone are ineffective. The tat-I protein also partially circumvents the pronounced inhibitory effects of cyclosporin A on the IL-2 promoter. Other cellular and viral promoters are unaffected by the tat-I gene product, either alone or in combination with other mitogens. The specific effects of the tat-I gene product on the IL-2 and IL-2 receptor (Tac) promoters suggest the possibility of an autocrine or paracrine mechanism of T-cell growth as an early event in HTLV-I-mediated leukemogenesis.

In vivo administration of the porphyrogenic agent allylisopropylacetamide (AIA) to phenobarbital-pretreated rats results in marked loss of hepatic cytochrome P-450 content. Using isozyme-selective functional markers, we now show that such loss reflects inactivation of several phenobarbital-inducible and constitutive isozymes. Some of the isozymes (P-450a,b,h and PB-1) are largely reparable by reconstitution with exogenous hemin, indicating that after AIA-mediated loss of their prosthetic heme, their apoprotein moieties are essentially intact and functionally reconstitutable with hemin. On the other hand, after AIA-mediated inactivation, isozymes such as cytochrome P-450p remain refractory to such repair. The cause for such intractability remains somewhat elusive since AIA-mediated alkylation of the apocytochrome, proteolytic loss of the hemoprotein, or even irreversible binding of prosthetic heme catabolites to the apocytochrome does not appear to be responsible.