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Inhibition of ABL1 tyrosine kinase reduces HTLV-1 proviral loads in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis.
- Source :
-
PLoS neglected tropical diseases [PLoS Negl Trop Dis] 2020 Jul 15; Vol. 14 (7), pp. e0008361. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Jul 15 (Print Publication: 2020). - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) causes incurable adult T-cell leukemia and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Patients with HAM/TSP have increased levels of HTLV-1-infected cells compared with asymptomatic HTLV-1 carriers. However, the roles of cellular genes in HTLV-1-infected CD4+ T cells await discovery. We performed microarray analysis of CD4+ T cells from HAM/TSP patients and found that the ABL1 is an important gene in HAM/TSP. ABL1 is a known survival factor for T- and B-lymphocytes and is part of the fused gene (BCR-ABL) known to be responsible for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), including imatinib, nilotinib, and dasatinib, are used clinically for treating CML. To evaluate whether ABL1 is indeed important for HAM/TSP, we investigated the effect of TKIs on HTLV-1-infected cells. We developed a propidium monoazide-HTLV-1 viability quantitative PCR assay, which distinguishes DNA from live cells and dead cells. Using this method, we were able to measure the HTLV-1 proviral load (PVL) in live cells alone when peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from HAM/TSP cases were treated with TKIs. Treating the PBMCs with nilotinib or dasatinib induced significant reductions in PVL (21.0% and 17.5%, respectively) in live cells. Furthermore, ABL1 siRNA transfection reduced cell viability in HTLV-1-infected cell lines, but not in uninfected cell lines. A retrospective survey based on our clinical records found a rare case of HAM/TSP who also suffered from CML. The patient showed an 84.2% PVL reduction after CML treatment with imatinib. We conclude that inhibiting the ABL1 tyrosine kinase specifically reduced the PVL in PBMCs from patients with HAM/TSP, suggesting that ABL1 is an important gene for the survival of HTLV-1-infected cells and that TKIs may be potential therapeutic agents for HAM/TSP.<br />Competing Interests: NO authors have competing interests
- Subjects :
- Adult
Aged
DNA, Viral genetics
Female
HTLV-I Infections virology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic drug therapy
Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic etiology
Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic genetics
Protein Kinase Inhibitors administration & dosage
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl antagonists & inhibitors
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl genetics
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl metabolism
Proviruses genetics
Proviruses physiology
Retrospective Studies
Spinal Cord Diseases drug therapy
Spinal Cord Diseases etiology
Spinal Cord Diseases genetics
Viral Load
HTLV-I Infections complications
Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 physiology
Leukocytes, Mononuclear virology
Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic enzymology
Spinal Cord Diseases enzymology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1935-2735
- Volume :
- 14
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- PLoS neglected tropical diseases
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 32667912
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008361