Viruses 2010, 2(9), 2037-2077; doi:10.3390/v2092037
Review

Human T Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1): Molecular Biology and Oncogenesis

Priya Kannian 1,2 email and Patrick L. Green 1,2,3,4,* email
1 Center for Retrovirus Research, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA 2 Department of Veterinary Biosciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA 3 Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA 4 Comprehensive Cancer Center and Solove Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 7 July 2010; in revised form: 25 August 2010 / Accepted: 15 September 2010 / Published: 24 September 2010
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cell Transformation by RNA Viruses)
PDF Full-text Download PDF Full-Text [438 KB, uploaded 24 September 2010 11:35 CEST]
Abstract: Human T lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs) are complex deltaretroviruses that do not contain a proto-oncogene in their genome, yet are capable of transforming primary T lymphocytes both in vitro and in vivo. There are four known strains of HTLV including HTLV type 1 (HTLV-1), HTLV-2, HTLV-3 and HTLV-4. HTLV-1 is primarily associated with adult T cell leukemia (ATL) and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). HTLV-2 is rarely pathogenic and is sporadically associated with neurological disorders. There have been no diseases associated with HTLV-3 or HTLV-4 to date. Due to the difference in the disease manifestation between HTLV-1 and HTLV-2, a clear understanding of their individual pathobiologies and the role of various viral proteins in transformation should provide insights into better prognosis and prevention strategies. In this review, we aim to summarize the data accumulated so far in the transformation and pathogenesis of HTLV-1, focusing on the viral Tax and HBZ and citing appropriate comparisons to HTLV-2.
Keywords: HTLV-1; leukemogenesis; cellular transformation; Tax; HBZ

Article Statistics

Click here to load and display the download statistics.

Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Kannian, P.; Green, P.L. Human T Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1): Molecular Biology and Oncogenesis. Viruses 2010, 2, 2037-2077.

AMA Style

Kannian P, Green PL. Human T Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1): Molecular Biology and Oncogenesis. Viruses. 2010; 2(9):2037-2077.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kannian, Priya; Green, Patrick L. 2010. "Human T Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1): Molecular Biology and Oncogenesis." Viruses 2, no. 9: 2037-2077.

Viruses EISSN 1999-4915 Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland RSS E-Mail Table of Contents Alert