A tumor-suppressor function for NFATc3 in T-cell lymphomagenesis by murine leukemia virus

Nuclear factor of activated T cell (NFAT) transcription factors play a central role in differentiation, activation, and elimination of lymphocytes. We here report on the finding of provirus integration into the NFatc3 locus in T-cell lymphomas induced by the murine lymphomagenic retrovirus SL3-3 and show that NFATc3 expression is repressed in these lymphomas. The provirus insertions are positioned close to the Nfatc3 promoter or a putative polyadenylated RNA (polyA) region. Furthermore, we demonstrate that NFATc3-deficient mice infected with SL3-3 develop T-cell lymphomas faster and with higher frequencies than wild-type mice or NFATc2-deficient mice. These results identify NFATc3 as a tumor suppressor for the development of murine T-cell lymphomas induced by the retrovirus SL3-3.