Transcriptional Activation of the Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1 (CD54) Gene by Human T Lymphotropic Virus Types I and II Tax Is Mediated through a Palindromic Response Element

In vitro infection of T cells with human T lymphotropic virus types I and II (HTLV-I and HTLV-II) resulted in constitutive expression of ICAM-1. Higher levels of ICAM-1 mRNA were expressed in HTLV-transformed cell lines (MT-2, MoT, C8166) when compared with uninfected T cell lines (A301). We demonstrate that this activation is conferred through a site on the ICAM-1 promoter that is activated in trans by the Tax protein of HTLV-I and HTLV-II....