Absence of human T-lymphotropic virus type I in Japanese patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) is a disease entity characterized by a primary sporadic T-cell proliferation in the skin. Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus that causes adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Recently, several authors have detected the HTLV-1 genome in genomic DNA from patients with CTCL and proposed a causal relation of HTLV-1 to CTCL. However, it remains controversial because these studies contain some problems in materials used to detect HTLV-1. We investigated both fresh and cultured T lymphocytes (128 specimens) derived from 50 Japanese patients with CTCL, where HTLV-1 is endemic, by using polymerase chain reaction with four sets of primers including gag, pol, env, and pX regions of HTLV-1 to elucidate the relationship between HTLV-1 and CTCL in Japan. However, none of the 128 DNA specimens revealed positive for HTLV-1 in contrast to the previous studies. We conclude that CTCL, which does not include HTLV-1, is present although the pathogenesis of CTCL may be different by areas or races.
Kikuchi
A
A
Department of Dermatology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Nishikawa
T
T
Ikeda
Y
Y
Yamaguchi
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D016410:Lymphoma, T-Cell, Cutaneous / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology
D004279:DNA, Viral