Remarkable increase in CD26-positive T cells in patients with human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) associated myelopathy.
We used two-color flow cytometric analysis to investigate CD26+ (Ta1+) cells in peripheral blood T lymphocytes from patients with human T-lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I)-associated myelopathy (HAM). The percentage of CD26+ cells among CD3+ cells was markedly increased in patients with HAM, compared with anti-HTLV-I seropositive carriers (p < 0.001) and seronegative controls (p < 0.01). Within the subpopulation of T cells, a significantly high percentage of CD26+ cells was detected in both CD4+ and CD8+ cell populations. Furthermore, analysis of HLA-DR+ T cells revealed similar results. In contrast CD4+CD45RA+ cells were significantly decreased in comparison with controls. These results suggest that immunologically activated or memory T cells found in peripheral blood may be etiologically relevant to HAM.
First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
K
K
Shibayama
T
T
Nakamura
I
I
Kinoshita
Y
Y
Ueki
H
H
Nakao
K
K
Eguchi
M
M
Tsujihata
S
S
Nagataki
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D017252:CD3 Complex / Q000032:analysis; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D002469:Cell Separation; D018819:Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*
D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D017252:CD3 Complex; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens; D018819:Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4