Human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiological agent of a severe form of neoplasia designated Adult T cell Leukaemia (ATL). It is widely accepted that the viral transactivator Tax-1 is the major viral product involved in the onset, but not in the maintenance, of neoplastic phenotype, as only 30–40% of ATL cells express Tax-1. It has been recently demonstrated that HBZ (HTLV-1 bZIP factor), a protein encoded by the minus strand of HTLV-1 genome, constantly expressed in infected cells and in ATL tumor cells, is also involved in the pathogenesis of leukaemia. The full role played by HBZ in oncogenesis is not clarified in detail also because of the limited availability of tools to assess quantitative expression, subcellular location and interaction of HBZ with host factors in ATL. By the use of the first reported monoclonal antibody against HBZ, 4D4-F3, generated in our laboratory it has been possible to carefully assess for the first time the above parameters in HTLV-1 chronically infected cells and, most importantly, in fresh leukemic cells from patients. Endogenous HBZ is expressed in speckle-like structures localized in the nucleus. The calculated number of endogenous HBZ molecules varies between 17.461 and 39.615 molecules per cell, 20- to 50-fold less than the amount expressed in HBZ transfected cells used by most investigators to assess the expression, function and subcellular localization of the viral protein. HBZ interacts in vivo with p300 and JunD and co-localizes only partially, and depending on the amount of expressed HBZ, not only with p300 and JunD but also with CBP and CREB2. The possibility to study endogenous HBZ in detail may significantly contribute to a better delineation of the role of HBZ during HTLV-1 infection and cellular transformation.

Background: A possible association between human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection and colorectal cancer progression has been inferred by the identification in tumour tissues of HCMV antigens and specific viral DNA or RNA sequences. To further investigate the relationship between HCMV and colorectal cancers we developed qualitative and quantitative PCR assay to detect HCMV DNA in 56 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples from patients belonging to 4 different histological phenotypes: adenoma; poorly, moderately and well differentiated adenocarcinomas. Results: Of the 56 FFPE tested tissue samples, 6 (11%) were positive for HCMV nested PCR amplification, and more precisely 1 (5%) of 20 cases of adenoma and 5 (21%) of 24 cases of moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. No PCR positivity was obtained in samples from well and poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas. Conclusion: Our observations suggest that there is no evidence of a direct association between HCMV and colorectal cancer. Moreover, the results obtained are not supportive of a causal role of HCMV in the processes of carcinogenesis and/or progression of colorectal cancer. However, the fact that the virus may present a "hit and run" like-mechanism and HCMV can thus only be detectable at a particular stage of a processing adenocarcinoma, suggests that a significant number of colorectal cancers might have been the subject of HCMV infection that could contribute to trigger the oncogenic differentiation. Our analysis does not exclude the possibility of HCMV infection subsequent viral clearance.

Human T-lymphotropic virus proteins and post-translational modification pathways