Persistent oligoclonal expansion of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1-infected circulating cells in patients with Tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1 associated myelopathy.
The pattern of HTLV-1 replication was assessed through PCR amplification of the 3' proviral integration sites in patients with TSP/HAM at different times. Integration sites were sequenced and oligonucleotides specific for the flanking sequences were synthesized. Together with HTLV-1 LTR specific primers, clonotypic nested PCR was performed on peripheral blood from two patients. The frequencies of five clones studied ranged from 1/300 to 1/1500 PBMCs while four clones persisted for more than 1-5 years. It would seem that Tax driven expansion of T cells may persist for considerable periods of time in TSP/HAM despite strong cellular immunity. This may provide a background for the accumulation of subsequent mutations leading to malignancy.
Unité 124 INSERM, Institut de Recherche sur le Cancer de Lille, France.
M
M
Cavrois
I
I
Leclercq
O
O
Gout
A
A
Gessain
S
S
Wain-Hobson
E
E
Wattel
D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D005260:Female; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology*; D017735:Virus Latency
D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides