Active production of anti-human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) IgM antibody in HTLV-I-associated myelopathy.
We investigated the presence of anti-human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) IgM in sera and cerebrospinal fluid from patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM) by Western blot analysis. Analyses of 36 serum samples revealed that most patients (31/36; 86.1%) had anti-HTLV-I IgM, whereas only four of 23 (17.4%) HTLV-I carriers had it. In studies of cerebrospinal fluid, anti-HTLV-I IgM was detected in 24 of 36 (66.7%) HAM patients, whereas none was detected in nine HTLV-I carriers. The differences were statistically significant (p less than 0.01). These results suggest that persistent active replication of HTLV-I occurs in the central nervous system as well as in the peripheral blood of HAM patients, and may contribute to the development of HAM.
Nagasato
K
K
First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
Nakamura
T
T
Ohishi
K
K
Shibayama
K
K
Motomura
M
M
Ichinose
K
K
Tsujihata
M
M
Nagataki
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood* / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D002353:Carrier State / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000276:immunology*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007075:Immunoglobulin M