title: Increased HTLV-I proviral load and preferential expansion of HTLV-I Tax-specific CD8+ T cells in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with HAM/TSP.
abstract: To date, high human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I proviral load in patients with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis has been reported and is thought to be related to the pathogenesis of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. However, the proviral load in cerebrospinal fluid has not been well investigated. We measured human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I proviral load in cerebrospinal fluid cells from human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis patients using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (TaqMan). Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I proviral load in cerebrospinal fluid cells were significantly higher than that of the matched peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and a high ratio of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I proviral load in cerebrospinal fluid cells to peripheral blood mononuclear cells were observed in patients with short duration of illness. Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I Tax-specific CD8+ T cells, as detected by peptide-loaded HLA tetramers, accumulated in cerebrospinal fluid compared with that in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, while the frequency of cytomegalovirus-specific CD8+ T cells in cerebrospinal fluid was reduced. These observations suggest that accumulation of both human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I-infected cells and preferential expansion of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I-specific CD8+ cells in cerebrospinal fluid may play a role in the pathogenesis of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis.
authors.affiliation: Neuroimmunology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamano
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jacobson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology*; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000166:cytology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D016356:Gene Products, tax / Q000378:metabolism; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000378:metabolism; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016356:Gene Products, tax; D010446:Peptide Fragments