title: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus types I and II (HTLV-I and -II) infection among seroindeterminate cases in Argentina.
abstract: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) seroindeterminate cases have been reported among blood donors (BD) and in at-risk populations worldwide, including Argentina. The objective of the present work was to study the presence of HTLV-I/II infection and its association to specific Western blot (WB) patterns among healthy BD and at-risk populations in Argentina. We analyzed 83 HTLV-I/II seroindeterminate WB cases diagnosed among BD (n = 49) and in different at-risk populations (n = 34) for human retroviruses infections. Multiple indeterminate WB patterns were observed. Out of the total, 13.2% (11/83) of the cases were found to be HTLV-I/II positive by nested-PCR (n-PCR), including 13.2% (11/83) HTLV-I and 2.4% (2/83) presenting HTLV-I and -II co-infection. Most of their serological profiles showed reactivity to gag or env codified proteins. Two samples amplified only one of the six analyzed genes (1 HTLV-I pol gene and 1 HTLV-II tax gene). There was no association between the presence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection and an HTLV-I/II indeterminate WB pattern (only 3 of the 83 samples were positive for T. cruzi antibodies). In conclusion, the majority of HTLV-seroindeterminate WB donors lacked HTLV provirus and was thus considered uninfected. However, when seroreactivity to Env and Gag proteins are observed on the WB and especially in at-risk populations, HTLV infection should be suspected; such individuals should be followed-up and retested.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Referencia para el SIDA, Departamento de Microbiología, Parasitología e Immunología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. cberini@fmed.uba.ar
authors.forename: Carolina A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Berini
authors.forename: Maria E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Eirin
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pando
authors.forename: Mirna M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Biglione
mesh_terms: D001118:Argentina; D015153:Blotting, Western; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies