Prototypical HTLV-I/II infection is rare in LGL leukemia.
The etiology of LGL leukemia is not known; however, we recently detected HTLV-II in a patient with LGL leukemia. In this study, we found that sera from 6 of 28 patients with LGL leukemia were positive for HTLV-I/II using a whole virus ELISA; moreover, the ELISA-negative sera were near the positive cut-off value. Therefore, we performed additional studies on these sera using commercially available assays which can confirm and distinguish HTLV-I from HTLV-II infection. Serum from only one patient was confirmed positive using conventional criteria (HTLV-II+). Sera from 25 patients (89%) had indeterminate reactivity on Western blot assays. Of these, sera from 21 (84%) reacted to gag protein p24; 12 (48%) reacted with recombinant env protein p21e, and 10 (40%) reacted with both. We could not detect HTLV-I/II pol or pX gene sequences in these patients using polymerase chain reaction analyses, with the exception of the HTLV-II-infected patient described previously. These data show that most patients with LGL leukemia are not infected with prototypical HTLV-I or HTLV-II. The frequent reactivity of patient sera to HTLV-I/II gag protein p24 and to env protein p21e, however, suggests that a deleted or variant form of HTLV-I/II may be associated with LGL leukemia.
Loughran
T P
TP
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Syracuse, NY 13210.
Sherman
M P
MP
Ruscetti
F W
FW
Frey
S
S
Coyle
T
T
Montagna
R A
RA
Jones
B
B
Starkebaum
G
G
Poiesz
B J
BJ
D015153:Blotting, Western; D004247:DNA / Q000097:blood; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D015752:Genes, env; D015750:Genes, gag; D015751:Genes, pol; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D015458:Leukemia, T-Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods
D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies; D004247:DNA