Expression of noncoding mRNA in human blood cells activated with synthetic peptide of HIV

T cells activation includes several steps such as translational events, activation of transcription for different genes, expression of surface molecules, secretion of cytokines, effectors functions. Knowledge has been accumulated on various nontranslatable RNA transcripts that are synthesized. In this context, a member of T cell noncoding transcripts (NTT) has been identified. It has been known that this gene is selectively expressed in activated T cells, as a 17-kb transcript. In this study, we investigate cell activation using RT-PCR to detect NTT. We investigated the expression of IFNγ mRNA, a cytokine produced by activated blood mononuclear cells treated with HLA-A2 restricted synthetic peptide of HIV (p9) by RT-PCR detecting a fragment of 300 bp. This finding demonstrated that human HLA-A2 blood mononuclear cells have been activated in the presence of synthetic peptide of HIV (p9) and can induce expression of mRNA of NTT and IFNγ which was confirmed by direct sequencing. For the first time, we have demonstrated an endogenous noncoding human RNA molecule, NTT mRNA, suggesting its implication in the cellular immune response.