Expression of sequences homologous to HTLV-I tax gene in the labial salivary glands of Japanese patients with Sjögren's syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
To address the question of whether the human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) gene is associated with the etiology of Sjögren's syndrome (SS).


METHODS
RNA expression of HTLV-I gag, pol, env, and tax genes in labial salivary glands (LSGs) from SS patients who were seronegative for antibodies to HTLV-I was examined using reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction techniques.


RESULTS
The HTLV-I tax gene, but not the HTLV-I gag, pol, or env genes, was detected in LSG samples from 4 of 14 patients (29%). The nucleotide sequences of the HTLV-I pXIV region in these 4 patients' LSGs showed 100% homology to the HTLV-I pXIV gene from the MT-2 cell line.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that products encoding sequences homologous to the HTLV-I pXIV gene in SS patients' LSGs might be candidates for self-antigen and/or lead to activation of autoreactive T lymphocytes through trans-acting transcriptional activation.
Sumida
T
T
Second Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan.
Yonaha
F
F
Maeda
T
T
Kita
Y
Y
Iwamoto
I
I
Koike
T
T
Yoshida
S
S
D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005814:Genes, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008046:Lip / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000382:microbiology*
D004279:DNA, Viral