HTLV-I uveitis: a distinct clinical entity caused by HTLV-I.
Seroepidemiological, clinical and virological studies were carried out in an HTLV-I endemic area to find out if HTLV-I caused an intraocular inflammatory disorder, uveitis. The seroprevalence in patients with uveitis without defined etiologies (62/175, 35.4%) was significantly higher than that in patients with non-uveitic ocular diseases (42/261, 16.1%) or in patients with uveitis with defined etiologies (8/78, 10.3%). Moreover, the seroprevalence in young adults (20-49 years) with uveitis without defined etiologies was 30/67 (44.8%), whereas it was only 10/107 (9.3%) in the other two groups. The uveitis in HTLV-I carriers was characterized clinically by a moderate inflammation of the vitreous body accompanied by a mild iritis and retinal vasculitis. The proviral DNA of HTLV-I was detected by polymerase chain reaction from the inflammatory cells in the anterior chamber in 9 out of 9 seropositive patients with the uveitis, but not in any of the tested patients with other types of uveitis. These data, thus, indicate that HTLV-I causes a specific type of intraocular inflammation, uveitis.
Mochizuki
M
M
Department of Ophthalmology, Kurume University School of Medicine.
Watanabe
T
T
Yamaguchi
K
K
Takatsuki
K
K
Yoshimura
K
K
Shirao
M
M
Nakashima
S
S
Mori
S
S
Araki
S
S
Miyata
N
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014605:Uveitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*
D004279:DNA, Viral