title: Detection of HTLV-I in Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes from Patients with Chronic HTLV-I-Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis and Asymptomatic Carriers by PCR-in situ Hybridization.
abstract: Less than 5% of people infected with human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) develop HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), a chronic progressive neurologic disease. A number of factors have been implicated in the development of HAM/TSP including heterogeneity of viral sequences, host-genetic background, viral-specific cellular immune responses and viral load. This study examined the presence of HTLV-1 tax DNA in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from 2 chronic HAM/TSP patients and 2 asymptomatic HTLV-I carriers by using PCR-in situ hybridization (PCR-ISH) for the in situ presence of proviral HTLV-I tax DNA. By this technique, rare PBL from these HTLV-I-infected individuals contained HTLV-I DNA. PCR-ISH did not detect any difference in the number of infected cells between HAM/TSP patients and asymptomatic carriers. Copyright 1997 S. Karger AG, Basel
authors.affiliation: Neuroimmunology Branch/NINDS, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., USA.
authors.forename: M.J.
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: T.J.
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Lehky
authors.forename: M.C.
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.forename: C.H.
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: S.
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jacobson