title: Role of the genetic background of rats in infection by HTLV-I and HTLV-II and in the development of associated diseases.
abstract: Three aspects of the rat model of HTLV-I/II infection were investigated. (i) The efficacy of HTLV-I-transformed rat cell lines in infecting different strains of rats: WKY and Lewis HTLV-I-transformed cell lines were injected into adult WKY, Lewis and Brown Norway rats, representing syngeneic and allogeneic combinations. The HTLV-I provirus was not detected in peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from these rats 18 weeks after inoculation, showing that HTLV-I-transformed rat cells are not suitable for virus challenge in vaccination experiments. Rats inoculated with Lewis HTLV-I-transformed cells produced an antibody response to HTLV-I, which was higher in allogeneic (WKY and Brown Norway) than in syngeneic rats. (ii) The susceptibility of rats to HTLV-II infection: After human HTLV-II-producing cells (MO) were injected into adult WKY rats, the HTLV-II provirus was detected in PBMC 12 weeks later. Sequencing of a portion of this provirus confirmed its identity with the HTLV-II from MO cells. (iii) The role of MHC haplotype in susceptibility to neurological disease in rats inoculated as newborns with HTLV-I: The hypothesis that the RT-Ik haplotype confers susceptibility was tested by inoculating newborn OKA (RT-Ik), WKY (RT-Il), Lewis (RT-Il) and Fischer 344 (RT-I lvl) rats with human HTLV-I-producing cells (MT-2). Eighteen months later, only the WKY rats showed histological abnormality of the spinal cord, without clinical paralysis. Fischer 344 rats developed cutaneous tumors and OKA rats mammary tumors. The HTLV-I provirus was not detected in these tumors.
authors.affiliation: Unité d'Epidémiologie des Virus Oncogènes, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kazanji
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fiette
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bomford
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Thé
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000235:genetics*; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes; D006649:Histocompatibility Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D006649:Histocompatibility Antigens; C038353:histocompatibility antigens RT, rat