title: Adult T-cell leukemia: future prophylaxis and immunotherapy.
abstract: A small population of human T-cell leukemia virus Type I (HTLV-I) carriers develop adult T-cell leukemia after a long incubation period. The results of a series of experiments using animal models suggest that insufficiency of HTLV-I-specific T-cell response induced by vertical HTLV-I infection allows enlargement of the HTLV-I-infected cell reservoir in vivo, a crucial risk factor of adult T-cell leukemia. In this review it is proposed that prophylactic Tax-targeted vaccines for the high-risk group of adult T-cell leukemia, which is characterized by low HTLV-I-specific T-cell response and high proviral load, can reduce the risk. Immunological studies on adult T-cell leukemia patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation also suggest that Tax-targeted immunotherapy may be effective against full-blown disease, although its indication may be limited.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunotherapeutics, okyo Medical and Dental University, Medical Research Division, Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan. kann.impt@tmd.ac.jp
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kannagi
authors.forename: Nanae
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Harashima
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.forename: Atae
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Utsunomiya
authors.forename: Ryuji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tanosaki
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masuda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D015459:Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy* / Q000821:virology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014765:Viral Vaccines