association of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with human t lympho-tropic virus 1, human immunodeficiency virus and human herpes virus 8

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with uncertain etiology. for many years, viruses have been suspected as causative agents. there are conflicting reports about the possible role of viruses such as human herpes virus 8 (hhv8) and retroviruses in the pathogenesis of the sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. we conducted a prospective case-control study to investigate the association of seropositivity of hhv8, human t lymphotropic virus 1 (htlv1) and human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) with risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. thirty patients with confirmed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 30 controls matched by sex and age were included in this study. enzyme immunoassays for the determination of antibodies to hhv8, htlv1 and hiv were performed on the serum samples of cases and controls. for hhv8, one in case group and one in control group were considered reactive for anti hhv8 igg. for htlv1 and hiv, the results were negative in both groups. this study does not support any association between seropositivity of hhv8, hiv and htlv1 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.