HTLV-1 Tax deregulates autophagy by recruiting autophagic molecules into lipid raft microdomains

The retroviral oncoprotein Tax from Human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), an etiological factor that causes adult T cell leukemia and lymphoma, plays a crucial role in initiating T lymphocyte transformation by inducing oncogenic signaling activation. We here report that Tax is a determining factor for dysregulation of autophagy in HTLV-1-transformed T cells and Tax-immortalized CD4 memory T cells. Tax facilitated autophagic process by activating IκB kinase complex, which subsequently recruited an autophagy molecular complex containing Beclin1 and Bif-1 to the lipid raft microdomains. Tax engaged a crosstalk between IκB kinase complex and autophagic molecule complex by directly interacting with both complexes, promoting assembly of LC3+ autophagosomes. Moreover, expression of lipid raft-targeted Bif-1 or Beclin1 was sufficient to induce formation of LC3+ autophagosomes, suggesting that Tax recruitment of autophagic molecules to lipid rafts is a dominant strategy to deregulate autophagy in the context of HTLV-1 transformation of T cells. Furthermore, depletion of autophagy molecules such as Beclin1 and PI3 kinase class III resulted in impaired growth of HTLV-1-transformed T cells, indicating a critical role of Tax-deregulated autophagy in promoting survival and transformation of virally infected T cells.