Bronchoalveolar lymphocytosis correlates with human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) proviral DNA load in HTLV-I carriers.
BACKGROUND
A study was undertaken to investigate the pathogenesis of pulmonary involvement in human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) carriers.


METHODS
The bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cell profile of 30 HTLV-I carriers (15 asymptomatic HTLV-I carriers (AHCs) and 15 symptomatic HTLV-I carriers (SHCs)) with chronic inflammatory diseases of respiratory tract and eight patients with HTLV-I associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) was investigated. The HTLV-I proviral deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and BAL fluid from HTLV-I carriers was estimated using the quantitative polymerase chain reaction method and the correlation between the lymphocyte number in BAL fluid and the HTLV-I proviral DNA load in PBMCs and BAL fluid was examined.


RESULTS
The percentage of lymphocytes in BAL fluid was increased (>18%) in 11 of 30 HTLV-I carriers although there was no significant difference compared with control subjects. In HTLV-I carriers the lymphocyte number in BAL fluid correlated well with the copy number of HTLV-I proviral DNA in PBMCs. In addition, the copy number of HTLV-I proviral DNA in BAL fluid correlated well with the number of lymphocytes (both CD4+ and CD8+ cells) in BAL fluid.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that pulmonary lymphocytosis can occur in a subset of HTLV-I carriers without HAM/TSP and that the increased HTLV-I proviral DNA load may be implicated in the pathogenesis of pulmonary involvement in HTLV-I carriers.
Mori
S
S
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Kagoshima University School of Medicine, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan. msir@msi.biglobe.ne.jp
Mizoguchi
A
A
Kawabata
M
M
Fukunaga
H
H
Usuku
K
K
Maruyama
I
I
Osame
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology* / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000235:genetics*; D006579:Heterozygote; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D008218:Lymphocytosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000821:virology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000821:virology; D019562:Viral Load
D004279:DNA, Viral