title: The presence of HTLV-I proviral DNA in the central nervous system of patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis.
abstract: Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-I) is a pathogenic retrovirus associated with a chronic progressive myelopathy, termed HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM)/tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP), as well as adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). A chronic inflammatory process has been implicated in HAM/TSP by a pathological study, but the exact mechanism still remains unknown. To understand better the complex mechanism of disease induction by HTLV-I, I studied the spreading pattern of HTLV-I in both peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) and central nervous system (CNS) tissues in patients with HAM/TSP using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. My results indicated the primary event to be the efficient replication of HTLV-I in vivo, whereas HTLV-I is likely to be present in the constituent cells of the CNS in addition to the infiltrating mononuclear cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kira
mesh_terms: D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D016355:Genes, pX; D015751:Genes, pol; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000821:virology; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D005914:Globins