Expression of HTLV-I antigen in cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with HTLV-I associated myelopathy.
The HTLV-I antigen (Ag) was detected in short-term cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) from 44% of patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM), using the indirect immunofluorescence method. The HTLV-I Ag-positive cells accounted for less than 4% of cultured PBMNC in all but one case. The kinetics and mechanism of HTLV-I Ag expression in cultured cells were these studied in this individual with about 20% positive cells. HTLV-I Ag was 0.3% at 6 h after the culture and the number of positive cells increased to 9.3% at 48 h. The sera from HAM patients had a suppressive effect on the expression of HTLV-I Ag in the cultured cells. This suppression was more potent in sera from patients with a high than with low antibody titer. There were no correlations between the HTLV-I Ag expression in cultured cells and the various clinical and laboratory findings, in each case.
Minato
S
S
Department of Neurology, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Itoyama
Y
Y
Goto
I
I
Yamamoto
N
N
D000328:Adult; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D015486:HTLV-I Antigens / Q000378:metabolism*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007065:Idoxuridine / Q000494:pharmacology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D015486:HTLV-I Antigens; D007065:Idoxuridine