title: Asymptomatic primary biliary cirrhosis in HTLV-I-associated myelopathy.
abstract: A 54-yr-old woman was admitted for complaints of slowly progressive gait and bladder disturbance, and HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP) was diagnosed by positive antibodies to HTLV-I, both in her serum and cerebrospinal fluid. In the course of a diagnostic evaluation, she was found to have asymptomatic primary biliary cirrhosis. In immunohistochemistry, a fair number of her hepatocyte nuclei stained strongly positive for HTLV-I core protein, suggesting that HTLV-I may infect hepatocytes. The present case demonstrates that the spectrum of HTLV-I infection may be broad, and suggests the relationship between HTLV-I-associated myelopathy and primary biliary cirrhosis by autoimmune process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Gerontology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ijichi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyata
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okanoue
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsuchihashi
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology