Absence of human T-lymphotropic virus type I tax sequences in a population of normal blood donors in the Baltimore, MD/Washington, DC, area: results from a multicenter study.
BACKGROUND
It was reported recently that sequences corresponding to the human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) tax gene were detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 8 to 11 percent of healthy blood donors without detectable antibodies to HTLV-I. A multicenter blind study was conducted to determine if these results could be independently confirmed.


METHODS
Specimens were collected from 100 anti-HTLV-I-negative healthy blood donors and from 11 anti-HTLV-I- or anti-HTLV-II-positive individuals. All samples were coded and distributed to each of four independent testing laboratories for polymerase chain reaction analysis to detect sequences of the HTLV-I or HTLV-II tax gene, using detailed procedures specified by the laboratory reporting the original observation. Each laboratory also tested a dilution panel of a plasmid containing HTLV-I tax to determine the analytical sensitivity of the procedure.


RESULTS
The analytical sensitivity of the screening methods permitted detection of as few as 1 to 10 copies of the tax gene. However, HTLV-I tax sequences could not be detected in any of the anti-HTLV-I-negative blood donors at more than one test site.


CONCLUSIONS
HTLV-I tax sequences appear not to be present in this population of 100 blood donors negative for anti-HTLV-I.
Cowan
E P
EP
Transfusion Medicine Scientific Research Group, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. cowan@cber.fda.gov
Nemo
G J
GJ
Williams
A E
AE
Alexander
R K
RK
Vallejo
A
A
Hewlett
I K
IK
Lal
R B
RB
Dezzutti
C S
CS
Gallahan
D
D
George
K
K
Pancake
B A
BA
Zucker-Franklin
D
D
McCurdy
P R
PR
Tabor
E
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015142:Baltimore / Q000453:epidemiology; D001782:Blood Donors; D015480:Deltaretrovirus Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006800:Deltaretrovirus Infections / Q000097:blood; D004219:District of Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D016355:Genes, pX / Q000502:physiology*; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D006679:HIV Seropositivity; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D015480:Deltaretrovirus Antibodies