The Antiproliferative Effect of Nutrients Against HTLV-1 Infections

Adult T-cell Leukemia (ATL) is a disease with no known cure. The disease manifests itself as an aggressive proliferation of CD4+ cells with the human T-cell Lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). The leukemogenesis of the virus is mainly attributed to the viral oncoprotein Tax. Tax activates the Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-κB) which stimulates the activity and expression of the matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). The objective of this presentation is to explore the underlying mechanisms of antioxidants involved in the treatment of leukemia. To achieve the objectives, efficacy of non-cytotoxic concentrations of certain antioxidants were investigated on proliferation, apoptosis induction, Tax expression, NF-κB levels as well as on MMP activity and expression both at the transcriptional and translational levels against both Human T-cell Lymphotrophic Virus Type-1 (HTLV-1)-infected and non-infected T lymphocytes. Four leukemia cell lines were used. C91-PL and HuT-102 are HTLV-1 positive cell l