title: Frequent detection of antibodies against HTLV antigens in patients with AIDS-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
abstract: We studied the prevalence of anti-HTLV-I/II antibodies in 22 patients with AIDS-related non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), 453 HIV-1-infected patients without lymphoma (194 of whom were diagnosed as having AIDS), and 6 HIV-1-positive and 75 HIV-1-negative patients with Hodgkin lymphoma. The frequency of serological reactivity against HTLV antigens was significantly higher in the AIDS patients with lymphoma than in those without (8 of 22, 36.4% vs. 20 of 194, 10.3%-p = 0.0027). One of the HIV-1-positive and none of the HIV-1-negative patients with Hodgkin lymphoma showed anti-HTLV-I/II reactivity. Four of the eight seropositive NHL patients showed antibodies directed against HTLV-II recombinant antigens when tested for serological discrimination in a Western blot assay. A PCR study of PBMCs from the only patient with NHL still alive at the time of the study showed HTLV-II-specific sequences in the genomic DNA. These data suggest that HTLV-II or a closely homologous retrovirus infects a high proportion of patients with AIDS-associated NHL.
authors.affiliation: Clinica delle Malattie Infettive, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zehender
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Meroni
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Piconi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Maddalena
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Parravicini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Clerici
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Ridolfo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moroni
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015486:HTLV-I Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015487:HTLV-II Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D016483:Lymphoma, AIDS-Related / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies; D015486:HTLV-I Antigens; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies; D015487:HTLV-II Antigens