Fig. 2

Dysregulated miRNAs and lncRNAs in HTLV infected cells. A schematic diagram of the HTLV genome within an infected cell highlighting the transcription processes along with the dysregulation of miRNAs and lncRNAs triggered by the virus infection. During the late phase of HTLV infection, Tax protein migrates to the cell nucleus and interacts with the Transcriptional Response Element (TRE) 1 through the Tax/CREB/CBP/p300 complex promoting the transactivation process. As a consequence of multiple virus transcription and replication rounds, distinct cellular miRNAs and lncRNAs are dysregulated or functionally-sequestered provoking multiple changes in the host cell. Importantly, because of the nature of the HBZ transcript, it also has lncRNA functions. Within the schematic, the different miRNAs and lncRNAs that are dysregulated or functionally sequestered are listed as follows. miRNAs that 1) target virus sequences 2) have a dysregulation that correlates to HBZ expression, 3) have a dysregulation that correlates to Tax expression, 4) dysregulated or functionally-sequestered (nuclear or cytoplasmic) lncRNAs, 5) viral HBZ-lncRNA. ** The subcellular location and interaction of these lncRNAs has not been specified. Figure created with Biorender