Nerrienet Eric, Meertens Laurent, Kfutwah Anfumbom, Foupouapouognigni Yacouba, Ayouba Ahidjo, Gessain Antoine
Laboratoire de virologie, Centre Pasteur du Cameroun, BP 1274, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Unité d'Epidémiologie et Physiopathologie des Virus Oncogènes, Département d'Ecosystème et Epidémiologie des Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr. Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
J Gen Virol. 2004 Jan;85(Pt 1):25-29. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.19314-0.
A serological survey for human T cell leukaemia virus (HTLV)/simian T cell leukaemia virus (STLV) antibodies was performed in 61 wild-caught African apes, including five gorillas and 56 chimpanzees originating from south Cameroon. Two young animals, a gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes vellerosus), exhibited a pattern of complete HTLV-I seroreactivity. Sequence comparison and phylogenetic analyses using the complete LTR (750 bp) and a 522 bp fragment of the env gene indicated the existence of two novel STLV-I strains, both of which belonged to HTLV-I/STLV-I molecular clade subtype B, specific to central Africa. These first STLV-I strains to be characterized in gorilla and chimpanzee were closely related to each other as well as to several HTLV-I strains originating from inhabitants of south Cameroon, including pygmies. Such findings reinforce the hypothesis of interspecies transmission of STLV-I to humans, leading to the present day distribution of HTLV-I in central African inhabitants.
对61只野生捕获的非洲猿进行了人类T细胞白血病病毒（HTLV）/猴T细胞白血病病毒（STLV）抗体的血清学调查，其中包括5只来自喀麦隆南部的大猩猩和56只黑猩猩。两只幼年动物，一只大猩猩（西部大猩猩）和一只黑猩猩（克罗斯河大猩猩），呈现出完全的HTLV-I血清反应模式。使用完整的长末端重复序列（LTR，750 bp）和env基因的522 bp片段进行序列比较和系统发育分析，结果表明存在两种新的STLV-I毒株，它们都属于HTLV-I/STLV-I分子进化枝B亚型，该亚型是中部非洲特有的。在大猩猩和黑猩猩中首次鉴定出的这些STLV-I毒株彼此密切相关，并且与源自喀麦隆南部居民（包括俾格米人）的几种HTLV-I毒株密切相关。这些发现强化了STLV-I跨物种传播给人类的假说，从而导致了如今HTLV-I在中部非洲居民中的分布。
