title: High prevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus type I carriers among patients with myelodysplastic syndrome refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB), RAEB in transformation and acute promyelocytic leukemia.
abstract: We examined human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection among patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB)/RAEB in transformation (RAEBt) and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). The study population consisted of 151 patients: 46 with MDS RAEB/RAEBt and 105 with AML (M1, n = 15; M2, n = 39; M3, n = 18; M4, n = 19; M5, n = 9; M6, n = 3; M7, n = 2). As a reference, we examined 92 patients with refractory anemia (RA) and 405 patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Thirteen patients with RAEB/RAEBt (28.3%), 11 with AML (11.6%), 27 with RA (29.3%), and 45 with CVD (11.0%) were positive for HTLV-I. Seven AML patients with HTLV-I infection had M3 acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). The prevalences of HTLV-I infection among patients with RAEB/RAEBt (P < 0.001), APL (P = 0.001), and RA (P < 0.001) were significantly higher than that in patients with CVD. The prevalences of HTLV-I infection were still significantly higher in patients with RAEB/RAEBt (P = 0.007), APL (P = 0.017) and RA (P < 0.001) than in those with CVD matched by sex and age. Platelet counts and survival times of RAEB/RAEBt patients with infection were significantly lower than those of patients without infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Immunology, Kagoshima University Hospital, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirosaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Kakushi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.forename: Naomichi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arima
authors.forename: Heiichiro
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hamada
authors.forename: Kimiharu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uozumi
authors.forename: Atsuo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozaki
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akimoto
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawada
authors.forename: Toshimasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kukita
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshimitsu
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Chuwa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tei
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000754:Anemia, Refractory, with Excess of Blasts / Q000821:virology*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015473:Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000821:virology*; D010976:Platelet Count; D015995:Prevalence; D015996:Survival Rate