Failure to isolate human T cell lymphotropic virus type I and to detect variant-specific genomic sequences by polymerase chain reaction in Melanesians with indeterminate western immunoblot.
The controversy over the endemicity of human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) in Melanesia has been settled recently by the isolation of genetically distinct, highly divergent sequence variants of HTLV-I from unrelated inhabitants of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Still at issue, however, is the significance of the high frequency of indeterminate HTLV-I Western blots (defined as reactivity to only gag-encoded proteins) among Melanesians. To investigate whether this indeterminate seroreactivity reflects specific reactivity to the Melanesian HTLV-I variants, 27 seroindeterminate Melanesians from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands were studied for evidence of HTLV-I infection. Although antibodies against Melanesian variant-specific env gene products and variant-specific env gene sequences were detected by Western blot analysis and polymerase chain reaction, respectively, in all 11 HTLV-I Western blot-positive Melanesians, none of the 27 seroindeterminate Melanesians had such variant-specific antibodies or HTLV-I proviral sequences. In addition, attempts to isolate HTLV-I from seroindeterminate individuals were unsuccessful. These data indicate that HTLV-I infection is not the cause of the indeterminate Western blot reactivity seen in Melanesia.
Nerurkar
V R
VR
Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
Miller
M A
MA
Leon-Monzon
M E
ME
Ajdukiewicz
A B
AB
Jenkins
C L
CL
Sanders
R C
RC
Godec
M S
MS
Garruto
R M
RM
Yanagihara
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D005260:Female; D005814:Genes, Viral; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010219:Papua New Guinea; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction