title: Frequent clonal proliferation of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-infected T cells in HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM-TSP).
abstract: Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) integrates its proviruses into random sites in host chromosomal DNA. Random integration of the proviruses was observed in asymptomatic HTLV-1 carriers and patients with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP). However, clonal integration has been reported in patients with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), including that in the smoldering, chronic, and acute states, indicating clonal expansion of infected cells. In this study, we found that about 20% of HAM/TSP patients and their seropositive family members harbored subpopulation(s) of clonally proliferated cells infected with HTLV-1, although they still maintained randomly infected cells as a major population. These clones were stable during examination periods of 4 months to 3 years. However, these carriers or HAM/TSP patients did not show any significant indication of ATL. This extremely high frequency of clonal expansion of HTLV-1-infected cells indicates that some clones of HTLV-1-infected cells have a tendency to proliferate more efficiently than the other population without malignant transformation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osame
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toita
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sonoda
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ijichi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D002455:Cell Division; D002999:Clone Cells; D015342:DNA Probes; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D015458:Leukemia, T-Cell / Q000097:blood / Q000382:microbiology; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000097:blood*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D004279:DNA, Viral