TRANSCRIPTION ANALYSIS OF THE JC VIRUS ENHANCER

JC病毒(JCV)是一种已被推测的致癌性人类乳头状病毒。 参与脑胶质瘤患者神经胶质瘤的形成 进行性多灶性白质脑病(PML)。PML的发病率为 在艾滋病患者中显著增加。因此，有趣的是， 研究HIV和JCV的相互作用。我们通过以下方式启动这些研究 HIV Tat基因产物对JCV病毒基因的影响分析 表情。联合应用共转染法和体外DNA 结合分析，我们已经证明了Tat激活早期基因 在转录水平上的表达。至少增加的一部分 转录是转录因子激活的结果，转录因子 与组织特异性JCV增强剂相互作用。调查工作正在进行中。 以确定激活是由于合成增加还是由于变化 在现有转录因子的特定活性中。

JC virus (JCV) is an oncogenic human papovavirus that has been postulated to be involved in the formation of glial tumors in patients with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The incidence of PML is increased significantly in AIDS patients. It was of interest, therefore, to investigate the interaction of HIV and JCV. We initiated these studies by analyzing the effect of the HIV tat gene product on JCV viral gene expression. Using a combination of cotransfection assays and in vitro DNA binding assays, we have demonstrated that tat activates early gene expression at the transcriptional level. At least part of the increase in transcription is a result of activation of transcription factors which interact with the tissue-specific JCV enhancer. Investigations are underway to determine if the activation is due to the increased synthesis or change in specific activity of existing transcription factors.