title: Human T-cell leukaemia virus type I and adult T-cell leukaemia-lymphoma.
abstract: Adult T-cell leukaemia-lymphoma (ATL) is a malignancy of peripheral T lymphocytes caused by human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-1), and its prognosis is poor. There are an estimated 5 million to 20 million HTLV-1 infected individuals worldwide; their lifetime risk of developing ATL is 3-5%, and high HTLV-1 proviral loads have been shown to be an independent risk factor. Recent advances in the treatment of ATL are the introduction of treatment targeted against CC chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4), which is abundantly expressed on most ATL cells, and allogeneic haemopoietic stem-cell transplantation for aggressive ATL. Promising outcomes are also reported with early intervention for indolent ATL with interferon α and zidovudine. Clinical trials should incorporate a validated prognostic index to assess the results, because of the difficulties associated with undertaking large-scale trials and significant diversity of clinical features with ATL, even in the same clinical subtypes (acute, lymphoma, chronic, and smoldering).
authors.affiliation: Division of Oncology, Hematology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan. Electronic address: kenjiishitsuka@fukuoka-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishitsuka
authors.affiliation: Division of Oncology, Hematology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000635:transmission; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015459:Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha