title: Proliferation of HTLV-1 infected circulating cells in vivo in all asymptomatic carriers and patients with TSP/HAM.
abstract: Assuming that the clonal expansion of T cells harbouring the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) provirus is a central feature of HTLV-1 infection, the identification of such cells was sought among a series of 19 asymptomatic carriers and 19 cases of tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1 associated myelopathy (TSP/HAM) devoid of malignancy. Two PCR based protocols designed to amplify the host cell-HTLV-1 proviral integration sites were used. In all cases large numbers of proliferating clones could be identified. The proportion of some clones was > 1/1500 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with the suggestion that their number increased as a function of age among asymptomatic carriers.
authors.affiliation: INSERM Institut de Recherche sur le Cancer de Lille, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cavrois
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gessain
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wain-Hobson
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wattel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002353:Carrier State / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D002455:Cell Division; D005260:Female; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D016662:Virus Integration