title: Presence of HTLV-I proviral DNA in central nervous system of patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy.
abstract: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method was used to determine the presence and amount of human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) proviral DNA in central nervous system (CNS) tissue obtained at autopsy from 6 patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM)/tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP), 1 patient with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and CNS infiltration of leukemic cells, and 9 control subjects with other neurological disorders. HTLV-I pX and env but not pol DNA were detected in CNS tissue from 5 of 6 patients with HAM/TSP. The ATL samples were positive for pX, env, and pol DNA by PCR. None of the control samples was consistently positive for HTLV-I by PCR, but all showed positive bands on beta-globin PCR. Quantitative PCR combined with histological studies showed no correlation between HTLV-I proviral DNA amounts and extent of perivascular mononuclear cell infiltration in the HAM/TSP CNS. Also, the amounts of pX and probably env DNA were greater in the HAM/TSP samples than in the ATL sample, although the extent of mononuclear cell infiltration was far less in the HAM/TSP samples than in the ATL sample. Therefore, in addition to infiltrating mononuclear cells, constituent cells of the CNS may harbor the HTLV-I genome, at least in the pX and env regions, in patients with HAM/TSP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kira
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Itoyama
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koyanagi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tateishi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kishikawa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akizuki
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Toki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sueishi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sato
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D015459:Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011533:Proviruses / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral