Publication
Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) Tax oncoprotein is required for viral gene expression. Tax transactivates the viral promoter by recruiting specific transcription factors but also by interfering with general transcription factors involved in the preinitiation step, such as TFIIA and TFIID. However, data are lacking regarding Tax interplay with TFIIH, which intervenes during the last step of preinitiation. We previously reported that XPB, the TFIIH subunit responsible for promoter opening and promoter escape, is required for Tat-induced human-immunodeficiency virus promoter transactivation. Here, we investigated whether XPB may also play a role in HTLV-1 transcription. We report that Tax and XPB directly interact in vitro and that endogenous XPB produced by HTLV-1-infected T cells binds to Tax and is recruited on proviral LTRs. In contrast, XPB recruitment at the LTR is not detected in Tax-negative HTLV-1-infected T cells and is strongly reduced when Tax-induced HTLV-1 LTR transactivation is blocked. XPB overexpression does not affect basal HTLV-1 promoter activation but enhances Tax-mediated transactivation in T cells. Conversely, downregulating XPB strongly reduces Tax-mediated transactivation. Importantly, spironolactone (SP)-mediated inhibition of LTR activation can be rescued by overexpressing XPB but not XPD, another TFIIH subunit. Furthermore, an XPB mutant defective for the ATPase activity responsible for promoter opening does not show rescue of the effect of SP. Finally, XPB downregulation reduces viability of Tax-positive but not Tax-negative HTLV-1-transformed T cell lines. These findings reveal that XPB is a novel cellular cofactor hijacked by Tax to facilitate HTLV-1 transcription.