title: Cytotoxic and suppressor activities in patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy.
abstract: Since there are several immune abnormalities and autoimmune-like features in human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I)-associated myelopathy/HTLV-I-associated tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), we examined cytotoxic and suppressor cell functions in HAM/TSP. In this study, we assayed cell-mediated cytotoxicity of CD8+ T-cell lines established from cerebrospinal fluid lymphocytes of two patients with HAM and concanavalin A-induced suppressor cell activities of peripheral blood lymphocytes from five patients with HAM. Our study revealed that three of four CD8+ T-cell lines showed cytotoxic activities against autologous CD4+ T-cell lines infected with HTLV-I, and two of the three lines showed major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted cytotoxicity. We also demonstrated that the concanavalin A-induced suppressor function was not defective in HAM patients. Therefore, the immune abnormalities and autoimmune-like features observed in HAM/TSP may not result from defective cytotoxic or suppressor cell activities.
authors.affiliation: Division of Demyelinating Disease and Aging, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Usuku
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishizawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osame
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tabira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000032:analysis; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D002460:Cell Line; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D003208:Concanavalin A