title: High frequencies of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection and presence of HTLV-II proviral DNA in blood donors with anti-thyroid antibodies.
abstract: To investigate the relationship between human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) types I and II and the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid diseases, we examined serum anti-thyroid antibodies in 1019 blood donors with or without serum anti-HTLV-I antibody as well as proviral DNA for HTLV-II in leukocyte DNA by the polymerase chain reaction in 395 blood donors with or without anti-thyroid antibodies. The frequency of donors with anti-HTLV-I antibody who also showed anti-thyroid antibodies (7.9%) tended to be higher than that (6.3%) among donors who did not have the anti-HTLV-I antibody. The frequency of anti-thyroid antibodies in 125 young male donors aged 16-39 years with anti-HTLV-I antibody (4.8%) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that (0.6%) in 164 control donors without the antibody. In blood donors with anti-thyroid antibody, 25.0% of those with anti-HTLV-I antibody and 14.3% of those without the antibody had HTLV-II proviral DNA. In contrast, in donors without anti-thyroid antibody HTLV-II proviral DNA was detected in 2.3% of those with anti-HTLV-I antibody and in 0.6% of those without the antibody. Thus the detection rates in donors with anti-thyroid antibody were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than those in donors without the antibody, regardless of HTLV-I infection. These results suggest that HTLV-I infection and the presence of HTLV-II proviral DNA may be independently related to the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid diseases.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mine
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokoi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akaike
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saito
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D016355:Genes, pX / Q000235:genetics; D015751:Genes, pol / Q000235:genetics; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D012699:Serology; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral