Background and Aims: Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a member of retroviridae family that causes ATL and HAM/TSP. Many inflammatory diseases are associated with this virus, such as Sjögren's syndrome, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Uveitis and also Atherosclerosis. HTLV-1 performs in long latency period and can activate the immune responses in coronary vessels. Activated immune sys...

To investigate the role of viral expression in individuals infected with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1), a real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of HTLV-1 tax messenger RNA (mRNA) using ABI Prism 7700 Sequence Detection System was developed. Using this system, the HTLV-1 tax mRNA load was compared with HTLV-1 proviral DNA load, HTLV-1 T...

BACKGROUND Cross-sectional studies support sexual transmission of human T lymphotropic virus (HTLV)-I/II; however, prospective incidence data, particularly for HTLV-II, are limited. METHODS A cohort of 85 HTLV-positive (30 with HTLV-I and 55 with HTLV-II) blood donors and their stable (>or=6 months) heterosexual sex partners were followed biannually over the course of a 10-year period. RESU...

BACKGROUND The presence and origin of endemic foci of human T-lymphotropic virus type 2 (HTLV2) infection in Africa remain a matter of debate. METHODS To better appreciate such determinants, we performed a survey of 1918 inhabitants from Cameroon forest areas, including 1051 Bakola Pygmies and 867 Bantus. RESULTS The overall HTLV-1/2 seroprevalence was 4% (49 cases of HTLV-1 and 27 cases of...

The extent of human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type II (HTLV-II) infection and its rate of spread have been difficult to determine owing to the serological cross-reactivity between HTLV-I and HTLV-II. The present study overcame this problem by directly detecting type-specific proviral sequences by means of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and liquid hybridization. Screening was performed...

The ocular manifestation of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection has been recognized as a new clinical entity termed HTLV-I uveitis. In order to determine whether HTLV-I uveitis is associated with lymphocyte alveolitis, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was carried out in 11 patients with HTLV-I uveitis, five asymptomatic HTLV-I carriers, 11 HTLV-I-negative patients with ocular ...

Human T lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs) are complex deltaretroviruses that do not contain a proto-oncogene in their genome, yet are capable of transforming primary T lymphocytes both in vitro and in vivo. There are four known strains of HTLV including HTLV type 1 (HTLV-1), HTLV-2, HTLV-3 and HTLV-4. HTLV-1 is primarily associated with adult T cell leukemia (ATL) and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tr...

Twenty human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) antibody-positive sera from Japan, Hawaii, and the Marshall Islands and 15 HTLV type II (HTLV-II) antibody-positive sera from intravenous drug users in the United States were tested by immunoblotting with two recombinant HTLV-I proteins and three commercial kits to determine whether there were any differences in reactions between HTLV-I- and HTL...