1/4. Chronic neurodegenerative disease associated with HTLV-II infection.Although human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV) type I is known to cause a number of diseases, there has been no convincing evidence of pathological changes after infection with the related virus, HTLV-II. We have found an endemic focus of HTLV-II infection among members of an American Indian population in new mexico, USA. We set out to determine the pathological consequences of HTLV-II infection in this population and identified two sisters (aged 59 and 46 years) with a disease superficially resembling the myeloneuropathy induced by HTLV-I. These women had a syndrome similar to the olivopontocerebellar atrophy variant of multiple system atrophy, and HTLV-II infection was confirmed by western blot and the polymerase chain reaction. Thus, HTLV-II may, like HTLV-I, cause a progressive neurodegenerative disease.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = leukemia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/4. Progressive spastic myelopathy in a patient co-infected with hiv-1 and HTLV-II: autoantibodies to the human homologue of rig in blood and cerebrospinal fluid.OBJECTIVE: Human T-cell leukemia virus types I (HTLV-I) and II (HTLV-II) are closely related human retroviruses. HTLV-I has been implicated in a chronic progressive myelopathy, known as tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) or HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM). We sought to determine whether autoantibodies to brain antigens were present in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a patient with chronic progressive spastic myelopathy with evidence of both hiv-1 infection and HTLV-I/II seropositivity. DESIGN: A 54-year-old bisexual man with clinical features of HAM/TSP of over 20 years' duration was followed. methods: We applied discriminatory dna amplification (polymerase chain reaction) to distinguish HTLV-I from HTLV-II and to verify co-infection with hiv-1. The patient's CSF was used to screen a human brain cDNA expression library to identify antibodies directed against brain antigens. Autoreactive bacteriophage clones were isolated and sequenced. RESULTS: The patient was found to be co-infected with both hiv-1 and HTLV-II, but not with HTLV-I. HTLV-II proviral levels in the peripheral blood remained relatively constant, despite therapy with zidovudine. Prominent oligoclonal banding of immunoglobulins was present in the patient's CSF. A single repeatedly reactive cDNA clone was identified, by screening with CSF antibody, sequenced, and found to be the human homologue of the rat insulinoma gene, rig. CONCLUSIONS: HTLV-II infection may predispose to development of a HAM/TSP-like illness. Autoimmune mechanisms, such as autoantibody formation, may play a role in pathogenesis.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = leukemia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/4. syndrome of severe skin disease, eosinophilia, and dermatopathic lymphadenopathy in patients with HTLV-II complicating human immunodeficiency virus infection.Two intravenous drug users dually infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv-1) and human T-cell leukemia virus type II (HTLV-II) developed an unusual severe dermatitis characterized by progressive brawny induration, fissuring, and ulceration of the skin, with an associated CD8 cell infiltration in one patient. Both patients had persistent eosinophilia. Lymph node biopsy revealed dermatopathic lymphadenopathy, an unusual pathologic finding in hiv-1 infection but one seen in association with mycosis fungoides and other skin disorders. Two new isolates of HTLV-II virus were established from these patients and were identified as HTLV-II by Southern blotting. This type of skin disease and lymph node pathology has not been found in other intravenous drug users who have been infected with hiv-1 alone or in patients in other risk groups for hiv-1 infection. HTLV-II may play a role in this unique new disease pattern in patients infected with hiv-1.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = leukemia (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/4. Large granular lymphocytosis in a patient infected with HTLV-II.HTLV-II has been associated with a variety of lymphoproliferative disorders, including atypical hairy cell leukemia, chronic T cell leukemia, T prolymphocytic leukemia, and large granular lymphocytic leukemia. However, a direct or indirect role for HTLV-II in these disorders is not yet firmly established. We studied a patient diagnosed as having leukemia of the large granular lymphocyte (LGL) type who was HTLV-II seropositive, to determine if the expanded cell population was infected. Two populations of CD3-CD16 LGL were identified; one was CD8 , the other CD8-. Populations of cells with these surface markers as well as normal CD3 CD4 and CD3 CD8 cells were separated by flow cytometric methods, dna extracted, and gene regions of HTLV-II pol and tax amplified, using the polymerase chain reaction, and probed after Southern blotting. HTLV-II was detected in the CD3 CD8 population, and not in the CD3-CD16 large granular lymphocyte population. This finding indicates that the role of HTLV-II, if any, in LGL proliferation is indirect.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = leukemia (Clic here for more details about this article) |