Role of HTLV-1 in the maintenance of malignant phenotype of ATL cells

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K14623
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Tumor biology
• Research Institution: National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center
• Principal Investigator: Komano Atsushi 独立行政法人国立病院機構(名古屋医療センター臨床研究センター), その他部局等, 臨床検査科長 (60356251)
• Research Collaborator: TAKEDA Satoshi 国立感染症研究所, 研究員 ; TANAKA Atsushi 大阪大学, 微生物学研究所, 助教 ; HOSHINO Tyuji 千葉大学, 薬学部, 准教授 ; OKADA Seiji 熊本大学, エイズ学センター, 教授
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: HTLV-1 / ATL / provirus / genome editing / Protein transduction / LENA

Outline of Final Research Achievements

HTLV-1 is a causative agent of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) in humans. The role of HTLV-1 in the maintenance of malignant phenotype of ATL cells has remained clarified. We employed evolving genome editing technologies to remove the proviral genome of HTLV-1 from ATL cells to address this issue. We were able to detect a PCR signal, suggesting the proviral removal was successful. We have been trying to reproduce this finding and will analyze the biological properties of provirus-deleted ATL cells.

Free Research Field

分子細胞生物学、感染症学、ウイルス学