title: Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and natural killer activity against HTLV-1 infected cells.
abstract: Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and natural killer (NK) activity were examined using MT-2 cells persistently infected by HTLV-1 as target cells, and mononuclear cells as effector cells, from healthy one-week-old newborn babies, infants, children and adults. More than 10% of ADCC was observed in 17 newborn babies out of 22 (77.3%) and in all 67 healthy one-month-old babies to adults, by adding serum from anti-HTLV-1 positive carriers. When anti-HTLV-1 negative serum was added, less than 10% of ADCC was observed. If infants without anti-HTLV-1 antibodies were breast-fed they had the possibility of HTLV-1 vertical transmission. There was no significant decrease in NK activity between 90 healthy newborn babies, infants, children, or adults. These results suggest that ADCC and NK activity protect against the transmission of HTLV-1 from mother to child.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Okayama University Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kunitomi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takigawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugita
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nouno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suemune
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kodani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikeda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000920:Antibody-Dependent Cell Cytotoxicity / Q000276:immunology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000635:transmission; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology