Cytoplasmic and nuclear events controllingTax-mediated activation of the NF-kB pathway:involvement of TAB2, IKKgamma/NEMO andcalreticulin

The Tax oncoprotein of HTLV-1 initiates T-cell transformationby dysregulating cell cycle progression andinhibiting DNA damage responses. The subsequentgenomic instability might result in constitutive activationof the NF-B pathway observed in HTLV-1-transformedT lymphocytes. Our previous results indicatedthat differential modifications of Tax by ubiquitinationor sumoylation controlled its retention either in thecytoplasm or in the nucleus, respectively. Here we showthat Tax is targeted to pre-existing punctate cytoplasmicstructures which contain the TNF-receptor associatedprotein 2 (TAB2)