Human T cell lymphotropic virus 1 manipulates interferon regulatory signals by controlling the TAK1-IRF3 and IRF4 pathways.

We previously reported that human T cell lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1) Tax oncoprotein constitutively activates transforming growth factor-beta-activated kinase 1 (TAK1). Here, we established Tax-positive HuT-102 cells stably transfected with a short hairpin RNA vector (HuT-shTAK1 cells) and investigated the physiological function of TAK1. Microarray analysis demonstrated that several interferon (IFN)-inducible genes, including chemokines such as CXCL10 and CCL5, were significantly down-regulated in HuT-shTAK1 cells. In contrast, Tax-mediated constitutive activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) was intact in HuT-shTAK1 cells. IFN-regulatory factor 3 (IRF3), a critical transcription factor in innate immunity to viral infection, was constitutively activated in a Tax-dependent manner. Activation of IRF3 and IRF3-dependent gene expressions was dependent on TAK1 and TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1). On the other hand, IRF4, another member in the IRF family of transcription factors overexpressed in a Tax-independent manner, negatively regulated TAK1-dependent IRF3 transcriptional activity. Together, HTLV-1 manipulates IFN signaling by regulating both positive and negative IRFs.