Large-animal models for leukemia have the potential to aid in the understanding of networks that contribute to oncogenesis. Infection of cattle and sheep with bovine leukemia virus (BLV), a complex retrovirus related to human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), is associated with the development of B-cell leukemia. Whereas the natural disease in cattle is characterized by a low tumor incidence, experimental infection of sheep leads to overt leukemia in the majority of infected animals, providing a model for studying the pathogenesis associated with BLV and HTLV-1. Tax(BLV), the major oncoprotein, initiates a cascade of events leading toward malignancy, although the basis of transformation is not fully understood. We have taken a cross-species ovine-to-human microarray approach to identify Tax(BLV)-responsive transcriptional changes in two sets of cultured ovine B cells following retroviral vector-mediated delivery of Tax(BLV). Using cDNA-spotted microarrays comprising 10,336 human genes/expressed sequence tags, we identified a cohort of differentially expressed genes, including genes related to apoptosis, DNA transcription, and repair; proto-oncogenes; cell cycle regulators; transcription factors; small Rho GTPases/GTPase-binding proteins; and previously reported Tax(HTLV-1)-responsive genes. Interestingly, genes known to be associated with human neoplasia, especially B-cell malignancies, were extensively represented. Others were novel or unexpected. The results suggest that Tax(BLV) deregulates a broad network of interrelated pathways rather than a single B-lineage-specific regulatory process. Although cross-species approaches do not permit a comprehensive analysis of gene expression patterns, they can provide initial clues for the functional roles of genes that participate in B-cell transformation and pinpoint molecular targets not identified using other methods in animal models.
VOLUME 285 (2010) PAGES 20481–20491 The correct affiliation for Dr. Badran is as follows: Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Sciences, EDST-PRASE, Lebanese University, Hadath Beirut 6573-14, Lebanon.
Genes are elements of the genetic material (deoxyribonucleic acid, dna). They code for a protein product. The human genome contains 35,000 genes. Half of our genetic information is inherited from our father, the other half from our mother. Mitrochondria and their DNA are entirely of maternal origin, which allowed Bryan Sykes to establish that modern human subjects can be classified into seven different lineages. The seven daughters of Eve, Bryan Sykes, 2001). Some genes code for structural proteins, some others code for regulatory ones. The efficient control of the cell cycle is carried out by numerous "normal" proteins. Some proteins, mutated on "abnormally" regulated are inducers of diseases, such as cancers or degenerative diseases.
Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) single-stranded cDNA was used to study the distribution of DNA sequences in tissues (normal or malignant) from bovine, ovine and human origin. After recycling against normal bovine DNA, BLV (3H) cDNA hybridized with bovine enzootic tumor DNA but did not hybridize with normal bovine DNA. These results indicate that BLV is an exogenous RNA oncogenic virus and confirm that enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) is an infectious disease. Proviral BLV sequences were also detected in buffy coat cells of animals in persistent lymphocytosis (PL) and carrying antibodies to BLV but no tumors. In animals at the tumor stage of EBL, the proviral sequences were found in buffy coat cells, in solid tumors (lymphosarcomas) and in organs infiltrated with tumoral lymphoid cells but not in apparently normal organs. No hybridization above background was observed between BLV (3H) cDNA and DNAs extracted from buffy coat cells and tumors corresponding to sporadic forms of bovine leukosis and some human leukemias and sarcomas.
