The human type-C retrovirus, HTLV, in Blacks from the Caribbean region, and relationship to adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma.
Type-C RNA tumor viruses have been implicated in the etiology of naturally occurring leukemias and lymphomas of animals. Human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV) is the first human virus of this class consistently identified in association with a specific type of human leukemia/lymphoma. The isolation of HTLV was made possible by the ability to grow mature T-cells in tissue culture usually with T-cell growth factor (TCGF). We now report a cluster of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma among Blacks from the Caribbean in which all eight cases are positive for HTLV virus and/or antibody. These patients have disease that appears indistinguishable from Japanese adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma which, as we have also reported, is associated with HTLV in over 90% of cases. The finding of HTLV antibodies in some of the normal population in the Caribbean and Japan, and the clustering of a specific form of T-cell leukemia/lymphoma in these virus-endemic areas, suggest that HTLV infection may be associated with the occurrence of a distinctive clinico-pathologic entity.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D044383:Black People; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D014900:West Indies
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral