Analysis of intercellular adhesion molecules expressed in cancer stem cells of a Tax-transgenic mouse ATL model

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Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) is a T-cell malignancy caused by human T lymphotropic virus type I. The HTLV-I transactivator, Tax, initiates ATL-like disease (mATL) both in Tax transgenic mice (Tax-Tg). Recently, the candidates CSCs of mATL were identified in splenic lymphomatous cells (SLCs). The candidate CSCs could consistently regenerate the original lymphoma, suggesting that the eradication of cancer stem cells will be necessary to improve the outcome of treatment for mATL. In this study, a proteomic approach was used to identify proteins differentially present in CSCs of mATL. The CSCs of mATL were analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to compare protein profiles in CSCs and no-CSCs. This comparative proteomic analysis revealed that expression of one membrane protein was increased in CSCs, which might become a new target of antibody-based therapy. Flowcytometry validated expression of the membrane protein. Taken together, the data presented provide a significant new protein-level insight into the biology of cancer stem cells of mATL, a key population of cells that are also involved in mATL development.