A Transgenic Drosophila melanogaster Model To Study Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Oncoprotein Tax-1-Driven Transformation <i>In Vivo</i>

Abstract

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-induced adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma is an aggressive malignancy. HTLV-2 is genetically related to HTLV-1 but does not cause any malignant disease. HTLV-1 Tax transactivator (Tax-1) contributes to leukemogenesis via NF-κB. We describe transgenic Drosophila models expressing Tax in the compound eye and plasmatocytes. We demonstrate that Tax-1 but not Tax-2 induces ommatidial perturbation and increased plasmatocyte proliferation and that the eye phenotype is dependent on Kenny (IKKγ/NEMO), thus validating this new in vivo model.