Essential Role of Human T Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 orf-I in Lethal Proliferation of CD4 + Cells in Humanized Mice

• DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00565-19
• Publication Date: 2019-07-15T10:55:45Z
• Authors: Veronica Galli; Christopher C. Nixon; Natasa Strbo; Maria Artesi; Maria F. de Castr...; Katherine McKinnon; Dai Fujikawa; Maria Omsland; Robyn Washington-...; Laura Romero; Breanna Caruso; Keith Durkin; Sophia Brown; Baktiar Karim; Monica Vaccari; Steve Jacobson; Jerome A. Zack; Anne Van den Broeke; Cynthia Pise-Masison; Genoveffa Franchini
• Keywords: CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; Mice, Knockout; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1; 0303 health sciences; Virologie médicale; orf-I; Mice, SCID; Virologie générale; HTLV-I Infections; 3. Good health; humanized mouse models; Disease Models, Animal; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; HTLV-1; Immunologie; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Disease Transmission, Infectious; viral replication; Animals; Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; CD4+ CD25+; Cell Proliferation

Humanized mice constitute a useful model for studying the HTLV-1-associated polyclonal proliferation of CD4 + T cells and viral integration sites in the human genome. The rapid death of infected animals, however, appears to preclude the clonal selection typically observed in human ATLL, which normally develops in 2 to 5% of individuals infected with HTLV-1. Nevertheless, the expansion of multiple clones of low abundance in these humanized mice mirrors the early phase of HTLV-1 infection in humans, providing a useful model to investigate approaches to inhibit virus-induced CD4 + T cell proliferation.