Presence of HTLV-I proviral DNA in central nervous system of patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy.
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method was used to determine the presence and amount of human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) proviral DNA in central nervous system (CNS) tissue obtained at autopsy from 6 patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM)/tropical spastic paraparesis ( TSP), 1 patient with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and CNS infiltration of leukemic cells, and 9 control subjects with other neurological disorders. HTLV-I pX and env but not pol DNA were detected in CNS tissue from 5 of 6 patients with HAM/ TSP. The ATL samples were positive for pX, env, and pol DNA by PCR. None of the control samples was consistently positive for HTLV-I by PCR, but all showed positive bands on beta-globin PCR. Quantitative PCR combined with histological studies showed no correlation between HTLV-I proviral DNA amounts and extent of perivascular mononuclear cell infiltration in the HAM/ TSP CNS. Also, the amounts of pX and probably env DNA were greater in the HAM/ TSP samples than in the ATL sample, although the extent of mononuclear cell infiltration was far less in the HAM/ TSP samples than in the ATL sample. Therefore, in addition to infiltrating mononuclear cells, constituent cells of the CNS may harbor the HTLV-I genome, at least in the pX and env regions, in patients with HAM/ TSP.[1]References
- Presence of HTLV-I proviral DNA in central nervous system of patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy. Kira, J., Itoyama, Y., Koyanagi, Y., Tateishi, J., Kishikawa, M., Akizuki, S., Kobayashi, I., Toki, N., Sueishi, K., Sato, H. Ann. Neurol. (1992) [Pubmed]
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