title: Seroreactivity to human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type 1 and related retroviruses in multiple sclerosis patients from Denmark and the Faroes.
abstract: A total of 40 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients from Denmark and 10 from the Faroes were examined for antibodies with affinity to human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type 1 (HTLV-I) and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2). Using ELISA, MS patients and a group of healthy controls did not differ significantly in their reactivities to HTLV-I. However, elevated reactivities were recorded with 5 MS sera, whereas only 2 of the sera from the controls produced highly values. Ten patients with other neurological diseases all seemed to exhibit low reactivity in HTLV-I ELISA. The reactivities of 2 MS sera decreased considerably by absorption with an HTLV-I lysate. In immunofluorescence assay, two other MS sera reacted with HTLV-I transformed cell lines as well as with non-infected cells. Examined by Western blotting (WB), a single MS serum produced a distinct HTLV-I p19 band. With ELISA for detection of HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies, 2 MS sera exhibited borderline reactions. Further examination of these two sera by WB revealed weak reactivities against p24 and p53 of HIV-1. One the whole, the present observations do not suggest that a putative MS retrovirus would be closely related with HTLV-I, HIV-1 or HIV-2.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Life Sciences and Chemistry, Roskilde University, Denmark.
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Kvinesdal
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clausen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D003718:Denmark; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000276:immunology; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies