Anti-HTLV-1 Tax [Clone 1A3] - 100 μg

The nonstructural regulatory Tax proteins are unique characteristics of delta retroviruses, a subgroup of retroviruses, which confers long-term persistent infection to mammalian lymphocytes. These proteins are crucial for productive viral replication, and they stimulate the proliferation of host lymphocytic cells. Tax has been shown to be oncogenic because it transforms and immortalizes rodent fibroblasts and human T-lymphocytes. Tax also stimulates cell growth by direct binding to cyclin-dependent kinase holenzymes and/or inactivating tumor suppressors (e.g. p53, DLG) . Moreover, Tax silences cellular checkpoints, which guard against DNA structural damage and chromosomal missegregation, thereby favoring the manifestation of a mutator phenotype in cells.