Sam68 is tyrosine phosphorylated and recruited to signalling in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HIV infected patients.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) codes for a protein, Rev, that mediates the viral RNA export from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. Recently, it has been found that Sam68, the substrate of Src associated in mitosis, is a functional homologue of Rev, and a synergistic activator of Rev activity. Thus, it has been suggested that Sam68 may play an important role in the post-transcriptional regulation of HIV. Sam68 contains an RNA binding motif named KH [homology to the nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) K]. Tyrosine phosphorylation of Sam68 and binding to SH3 domains have been found to negatively regulate its RNA binding capacity. Besides, tyrosine phosphorylation of Sam68 allows the formation of signalling complexes with other proteins containing SH2 and SH3 domains, suggesting a role in signal transduction of different systems in human lymphocytes, such as the T cell receptor, and leptin receptor, or the insulin receptor in other cell types. In the present work, we have found that Sam68 is tyrosine phosphorylated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from HIV infected subjects, leading to the formation of signalling complexes with p85 the regulatory subunit of PI3K, GAP and STAT-3, and decreasing its RNA binding capacity. In contrast, PBMC from HIV infected subjects have lower expression levels of Sam68 compared with controls. These results suggest that Sam68 may play some role in the immune function of lymphocytes in HIV infection.