title: Low prevalence of human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 infection in patients with gastric cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There have been few studies on the association between human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection and cancer risk. It is still controversial whether or not HTLV-1 infection affects the incidence of several cancers. With this background, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between HTLV-1 infection and the occurrence of several types of cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 699 patients with cancer aged 50 years and older diagnosed between 1991 and 2004 at the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Ryukyu University Hospital, Okinawa, Japan, and 1365 control patients without cancer. The association between HTLV-1 infection and cancer (biliary tract, pancreatic, esophageal, gastric, colorectal, liver, and lung cancers) was analyzed by logistic regression analysis adjusted for age and sex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The infection rate of HTLV-1 in patients with gastric cancer was significantly lower than in controls (P = 0.01, adjusted odds ratio 0.46). The infection rate of HTLV-1 was not associated with increased or decreased risk of cancers other than gastric cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study indicated that the prevalence of HTLV-1 infection in patients with gastric cancer appears to be significantly lower than that in control patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamoto
authors.forename: Masamoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Nagisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kinjo
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hokama
authors.forename: Fukunori
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kinjo
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fujita
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology*