title: Selected cytotoxic T lymphocytes with high specificity for HTLV-I in cerebrospinal fluid from a HAM/TSP patient.
abstract: Human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I)-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the spinal cord in which HTLV-I Tax-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) have been suggested to be immunopathogenic. However, it is unknown whether the HTLV-I-specific CTL in the central nervous system differ from those in the periphery. We investigated functional T-cell receptor diversity in HTLV-I Tax11-19-specific CTL clones derived from peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a HAM/TSP patient using analogue peptides of the viral antigen. CTL responses to the analogue peptides varied between T-cell clones, however, CTL clones from CSF showed limited recognition of the peptides when compared to those from peripheral blood. This suggests that CTL with highly focused specificity for HTLV-I Tax accumulate in the CSF and may contribute to the pathogenesis of HAM/TSP. Furthermore, this study provides a rationale for analogue peptide-based immunotherapeutic strategies focusing on the immunopathogenic T-cells in HTLV-I-associated neurologic disease.
authors.affiliation: Neuroimmunology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Ryuji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Samantha S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Soldan
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jacobson
mesh_terms: D000939:Epitopes; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes