title: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I and neurological diseases.
abstract: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection is associated with a variety of human diseases. In particular, there are two major diseases caused by HTLV-I infection. One is an aggressive neoplastic disease called adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), and another is a chronic progressive inflammatory neurological disease called HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). It is still unknown why one virus causes these different diseases. With regard to HAM/TSP, virus-host immunological interactions are an considered to be important cause of this disease. Coexisting high HTLV-I proviral load and HTLV-I-specific T cells (CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells) is an important feature of HAM/TSP. Histopathological studies indicate the existence of an inflammatory reaction and HTLV-I-infected cells in the affected lesions of HAM/TSP. Therefore, the immune response to HTLV-I probably contributes to the inflammatory process of the central nervous system lesions in HAM/TSP patients.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osame
mesh_terms: D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1; D006801:Humans; D016399:Lymphoma, T-Cell / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D012307:Risk Factors