Retrovirology Research BioMed Central Open Access Characteristic expression of HTLV-1 basic zipper factor (HBZ) transcripts in HTLV-1 provirus-positive cells Tetsuya Usui1, Katsunori Yanagihara1, Kunihiro Tsukasaki2, Ken Murata1, Hiroo Hasegawa1, Yasuaki Yamada1 and Shimeru Kamihira*1 Address: 1Department of Laboratory Medicine Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki City, Japan and 2Department of Hematology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki City, Japan Email: Tetsuya Usui - t-usui@; Katsunori Yanagihara - k-yanagi@; Kunihiro Tsukasaki - tsukasak@; Ken Murata - k-murata@; Hiroo Hasegawa - hhase@; Yasuaki Yamada - y-yamada@; Shimeru Kamihira* - kamihira@ * Corresponding author Published: 22 April 2008 Retrovirology 2008, 5:34 doi: Received: 6 March 2008 Accepted:. | BioMed Central Retrovirology Research Characteristic expression of HTLV-1 basic zipper factor HBZ transcripts in HTLV-1 provirus-positive cells Tetsuya Usui1 Katsunori Yanagihara1 Kunihiro Tsukasaki2 Ken Murata1 Hiroo Hasegawa1 Yasuaki Yamada1 and Shimeru Kamihira 1 Address Department of Laboratory Medicine Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Nagasaki City Japan and 2Department of Hematology Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Nagasaki City Japan Email Tetsuya Usui - t-usui@ Katsunori Yanagihara - k-yanagi@ Kunihiro Tsukasaki - tsukasak@ Ken Murata - k-murata@ Hiroo Hasegawa - hhase@ Yasuaki Yamada - y-yamada@ Shimeru Kamihira - kamihira@ Corresponding author Open Access Published 22 April 2008 Received 6 March 2008 Retrovirology 2008 5 34 doi 1742-4690-5-34 Accepted 22 April 2008 This article is available from http content 5 1 34 2008 Usui et al licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http licenses by which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background HTLV-1 causes adult T-cell leukemia ATL . Although there have been many studies on the oncogenesis of the viral protein Tax the precise oncogenic mechanism remains to be elucidated. Recently a new viral factor HTLV-1 basic Zip factor HBZ encoded from the minus strand mRNA was discovered and the current models of Tax-centered ATL cell pathogenesis are in conflict with this discovery. HBZs consisting of non-spliced and spliced isoforms HBZ-SI are thought to be implicated in viral replication and T-cell proliferation but there is little evidence on
