title: Oligoclonal expansion of cd8+ T-lymphocytes in cultured peripheral lymphocytes derived from asymptomatic HTLV-I carriers.
abstract: Peripheral blood mononulear cells (PBMC) derived from 10 asymptomatic human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) carriers were cultured for a short term (10-14 days) in the absence of exogenous antigens. In 5 carriers, when compared with 5 HTLV-I non-carriers an apparent increase in the proportion of CD8+ DR+ cells was observed. The clonality of cultured lymphocytes was then examined by analyzing the usage of Vbeta families of T cell receptor genes. In three of the 5 carriers with an increased CD8+ population, two to four Vbeta genes were dominant in the CD8+ population but not in the CD4+ population. No dominance of Vbeta gene usage was observed in lymphocytes derived from the 5 noncarriers. The sequence of cDNA from Vbeta families which were especially dominant revealed their oligoclonal characteristics. These results were quite similar to our previous findings from HTLV-I associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) patients in whom the same oligoclonal CD8+ cells were expanded cytotoxic T lymphocyte clones for HTLV-I genome products. We posed the question of whether the dominance of TCR Vbeta usage in cultured PBMC was associated with the HTLV-I genome dose in the PBMC or with anti-HTLV-I antibody titers. The three carriers who showed an increased CD8+ population mentioned above all showed a rather high HTLV-I genome dose, which again was similar to HAM/TSP patients. These three carriers however, did not necessarily show high anti-HTLV-I antibody titers in contrast with HAM/TSP patients, who generally do.
authors.affiliation: NAGASAKI UNIV,SCH MED,DEPT ONCOL,1-12-4 SAKAMOTO,NAGASAKI 852,JAPAN. NAGASAKI UNIV HOSP,BLOOD TRANSFUS SERV,NAGASAKI 852,JAPAN. NAGASAKI UNIV,SCH MED,DEPT PUBL HLTH,NAGASAKI 852,JAPAN.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Shinzato
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamihira
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moji
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takemoto
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shiku