Immunoelectron microscopic study on expressions of T-cell and viral antigens in HTLV and/or HHV producing cells

免疫电镜观察显示，产生HTLV的细胞的T细胞受体（TCR）及其亚单位的表达不完全，这意味着产生HTLV的T细胞的功能缺陷。事实上，在培养的HTLV产生细胞中，TCRα/β显著减少，几乎完全缺失TCRα亚基，但保留TCRβ亚基。然后，在原发性渗出性淋巴瘤（PEL）细胞中，用TPA处理可以诱导产生HHV-8，与其他类型的HHV（如4型、5型和7型）相比，HHV-8显示出精细结构。对于HHV-6，由于在培养的细胞中很难找到成熟的颗粒，甚至包含病毒基因组，因此通常很难观察到其精细结构。在MT-4细胞产生HTLV-I，HHV-6病毒蛋白表达明确观察后，在体外感染HHV-6，虽然裂解感染。然后，电子显微镜观察澄清了核内、未成熟和细胞外成熟颗粒的颗粒产生。本实验观察到两个过程，即成熟颗粒通过核孔或进入核膜作为病毒包膜。在反映这些过程中，检测到两种类型的成熟颗粒，有或没有中间层的tegment。与这些研究平行，还研究了人类癌症中细胞周期调节蛋白或某些癌基因或抑癌基因产物的过度表达，以进一步检查HTLV和/或HHV生产者中的病毒或病毒相关蛋白。

Immunoelectron microscopic studies of HTLV-producing cells revealed that T-cell receptor (TCR) and its subunit was expressed incompletely, meaning the functional defect of T cells producing HTLV. In fact, TCRα/β diminished markedly in cultured HTLV-producing cells, lacking TCRα subunit almost completely, but retaining TCRβ subunit. Then, HHV-8 production could be inducible in primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) cells, with TPA treatment, exhibiting fine structure of HHV-8 in comparison with other kinds of HHV, such as 4, 5, and 7 types. As for HHV-6, generally it was difficult to observe its fine structure, because of the difficulty to find out mature particles in cultured cells, even containing viral genomes. In MT-4 cells producing HTLV-I, HHV-6 viral protein expression was definitely observed after infection with HHV-6 in vitro, although lytic infection. Then, electron microscopic observation clarified the particle production of intranuclear, immature and extracellular mature particles. In this observation, there suggested two processes to be mature particles, to pass through the nuclear pore or get the inner nuclear membrane as the viral envelope. In reflecting these processes, there detected two types of mature particles, with or without intermediate layer in the tegment. In parallel with those studies, the overexpressions of cell cycle regulating proteins or some oncogene or suppressor oncogene products were also investigated in human cancers in order to further examination of viral or viral-related proteins in HTLV and/or HHV producers.