title: No evidence of HTLV-I infection in French patients with multiple sclerosis using the polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using three primer pairs in the pol, tax, and env regions of the HTLV-I genome, was unable to detect HTLV-I in the blood samples of 54 caucasian subjects with multiple sclerosis who were seronegative for HTLV-I/II. Seventeen HTLV-I/II seropositive (by ELISA and Western blot) subjects used as positive controls were positive with the three primer pairs. The PCR was negative in 47 healthy HTLV-I/II seronegative (by ELISA) subjects at low risk of HTLV-I infection used as negative controls. These results suggest that there is no association between the occurrence of HTLV-I sequences and the development of multiple sclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de Transfusion Sanguine, Paris, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wattel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mariotti
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bignon
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Agis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gordien
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hors
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lefrère
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods