title: Human T cell lymphotropic virus type 2a strains among HIV type 1-coinfected patients from Brazil have originated mostly from Brazilian Amerindians.
abstract: The human T cell lymphotropic virus type 2 (HTLV-2) is found mainly in Amerindians and in intravenous drug users (IDUs) from urban areas of the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Worldwide, HTLV-2a and HTLV-2b subtypes are the most prevalent. Phylogenetic analysis of HTLV-2 isolates from Brazil showed the HTLV-2a subtype, variant -2c, which spread from Indians to the general population and IDUs. The present study searched for the types of HTLV-2 that predominate among HIV-1-coinfected patients from southern and southeastern Brazil. Molecular characterization of the LTR, env, and tax regions of 38 isolates confirmed the HTLV-2c variant in 37 patients, and one HTLV-2b in a patient from Paraguay. Phylogenetic analysis of sequences showed different clades of HTLV-2 associated with risk factors and geographic region. These clades could represent different routes of virus transmission and/or little diverse evolutionary rates of virus. Taking into account the results obtained in the present study and the lack of the prototypic North American HTLV-2a strain and HTLV-2b subtypes commonly detected among HIV-coinfected individuals worldwide, we could speculate on the introduction of Brazilian HTLV-2 strains in such populations before the introduction of HIV.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Investigaçõe Médica em Hepatologia por Vírus (LIM-47), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, S.P., Brazil.
authors.forename: Mariana Cavalheiro
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Magri
authors.forename: Luis Fernando de Macedo
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Brigido
authors.forename: Helena Kaminami
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.forename: Adele
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caterino-de-Araujo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001938:Brazil; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D016356:Gene Products, tax / Q000235:genetics; D015752:Genes, env; D016355:Genes, pX; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D015497:HIV-1; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology*; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007199:Indians, South American; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D016356:Gene Products, tax; C514971:tax protein, Human T-lymphotrophic virus 2