title: Cellular immune surveillance against HTLV-I infected T lymphocytes in HTLV-I associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP).
abstract: To investigate the cellular immune surveillance against HTLV-I infected T lymphocytes in HTLV-I associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), we studied the cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) activity against an HTLV-I infected human T cell line (MT-2) and the natural killer (NK) cell activity in 15 HAM patients, 6 HTLV-I carriers, and 15 controls. The activity of CTL against MT-2 cells was found to be significantly elevated in HAM compared with that in the controls. This cytotoxicity in HAM was higher than in HTLV-I carriers, although the difference was not statistically significant. There was an HLA class I restriction in this CTL activity against MT-2 cells in HAM. On the other hand, NK cell activity was significantly lower in HAM than in controls. Cold target inhibition studies suggested that NK cells could not lyse MT-2 cells effectively. There was a positive correlation between the CTL activity against MT-2 cells and the serum antibody titers to HTLV-I in HAM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujihara
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Itoyama
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Goto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D002353:Carrier State; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000276:immunology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens