title: Adult T-cell leukemia.
abstract: Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) was first reported in Japan, where it has a high incidence in the southwestern region. The retrovirus, human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I), is the causative agent of ATL. In ATL-endemic areas, the rate of HTLV-I carriers is high. A definite diagnosis of ATL is based on the presence of HTLV-I proviral DNA in the tumor cell DNA. ATL cells originate from the CD4 subset of peripheral T cells. ATL shows diverse clinical features but can be divided into four subtypes:acute, chronic, smoldering, and lymphoma type. Chemotherapy is not effective; the acute and lymphoma types have a poor prognosis. Familial occurrence of ATL is common. HTLV-I infection is caused by transmission of live infected lymphocytes from mother to child, from man to woman, or by blood transfusion. Infection with HTLV-I can lead to other diseases, including HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis and HTLV-I uveitis.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Kumamoto University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takatsuki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy / Q000635:transmission*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015458:Leukemia, T-Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged