title: The clonal expansion of human T lymphotropic virus type 1-infected T cells: a comparison between seroconverters and long-term carriers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The clonal expansion of human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-infected T cells is considered to be important for the maintenance of infection. However, the process by which the clonality of HTLV-1-infected T cells is established is not understood.
  
  
  METHODS
  HTLV-1 clonality in 4 adult seroconverters was analyzed by inverse long polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by cloning of the PCR products and evaluation of restriction fragment-length polymorphism. The results were compared with those for 8 long-term HTLV-1 carriers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The clonality of HTLV-1-infected T cells in the seroconverters arose stochastically and was variable 3-5 years after seroconversion. On the basis of the frequency with which clones of cells infected with unique HTLV-1 provirus integration sites appeared, it was clear that the seroconverters had a greater number of unique clones with fewer infected cells than did the long-term carriers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The clonality of the HTLV-1-infected T cells in the adult seroconverters, who had been newly infected via HTLV-1-carrier spouses, was more heterogeneous and less stable than that of the HTLV-1-infected T cells in long-term carriers, who were more likely to have been infected during infancy. The mechanism for the selective maintenance of certain clones in asymptomatic HTLV-1 carriers likely plays a role in the initiation of leukemogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine II, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Kiyotake, Miyazaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Gen-ichi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okayama
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Shigemi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aizawa
authors.forename: Sherri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stuver
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.forename: Chung-Cheng
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.forename: Hirohito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsubouchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002353:Carrier State / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D002999:Clone Cells; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology*; D016662:Virus Integration
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies