Myoferlin contributes to invasiveness of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1-infected T cells

T cells infected with human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) display an enhanced ability to infiltrate into tissues and organs, sometimes leading to pathological effects in patients infected with the virus. We provide evidence that abnormal expression of the cellular protein myoferlin (MyoF) in HTLV-1-infected T cells contributes to this phenotype, in part, by directing changes in the expression of other cellular genes. One gene on which MyoF produces a positive effect on expression was found to be COTL1, which encodes the F-actin-binding protein, coactosin-like protein 1. Our results indicate that COTL1 plays a specific role in the migration of HTLV-1-infected T cells through extracellular matrices, which is a critical step in the process of tissue infiltration.