Amplifications of multiple regions of the HTLV-I genome from DNA of an Italian spastic paraparesis patient but not from DNA of multiple sclerosis patients.
We searched for evidence of infection by the human T-cell lymphoma/leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) in patients with multiple sclerosis (40 cases); brainstem encephalitis (1 case); Friedreich's ataxia (1 case); spastic paraparesis of unknown etiology (1 case). All patients were from the region of Abruzzo, Italy. Sera were all negative for anti-HTLV-I reactivity by the Western blotting (WB) analysis. DNAs from peripheral blood mononuclear cells were amplified using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique with primers specific for the HTLV-I gag, pol, and env proviral regions. HTLV-I sequences were amplified only in the patient with spastic paraparesis of unknown etiology. In this case, HTLV-I infection might have been related to blood transfusions received 2 years prior to the onset of the neurologic symptoms. Members of the patient's family were negative for HTLV-I by PCR and WB. These data indicate that HTLV-I associated myelopathy is present also in Italy, but fail to substantiate an association of HTLV-I with multiple sclerosis.
French
D
D
Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, Università La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
Mammarella
S
S
Curia
M C
MC
Porrini
A M
AM
Giampietro
A
A
Macor
S
S
Lombardi
V
V
Aglianò
A M
AM
Manzari
V
V
Lugaresi
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D004279:DNA, Viral; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes