Laboratory of Dermatology and Immunology, São Paulo University Medical School, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
J Med Virol. 2010 May;82(5):837-42. doi: 10.1002/jmv.21718.
Although human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 2 (HTLV-2) is considered of low pathogenicity, serological diagnosis is important for counseling and monitoring. The confirmatory tests most used are Western blot (WB) and PCR. However, in high-risk populations, about 50% of the indeterminate WB were HTLV-2 positives by PCR. The insensitivity of the WB might be due to the use of recombinant proteins of strains that do not circulate in our country. Another possibility may be a high level of immunosuppression, which could lead to low production of virus, resulting in low stimulation of antibody. We found one mutation, proline to serine in the envelope region in the position 184, presented at least 1/3 of the samples, independent the indeterminate WB profile. In conclusion, we found no correlation of immune state, HTLV-2 proviral load, or env diversity in the K55 region and WB indeterminate results. We believe that the only WB kit available in the market is probably more accurate to detect HTLV-1 antibodies, and some improvement for HTLV-2 detection should be done in the future, especially among high-risk population.
虽然人类 T 细胞嗜淋巴细胞病毒 2 型（HTLV-2）被认为致病性较低，但血清学诊断对于咨询和监测很重要。最常使用的确认试验是 Western blot（WB）和 PCR。然而，在高危人群中，大约 50%的不确定 WB 通过 PCR 呈 HTLV-2 阳性。WB 的不敏感性可能是由于使用了在我国不流行的株的重组蛋白。另一种可能性可能是高水平的免疫抑制，这可能导致病毒产量低，从而导致抗体刺激低。我们发现一个突变，即 envelope 区域位置 184 处的脯氨酸到丝氨酸，在至少 1/3 的样本中存在，与不确定的 WB 图谱无关。总之，我们没有发现免疫状态、HTLV-2 前病毒载量或 env 多样性与 WB 不确定结果之间的相关性。我们认为，市场上唯一可用的 WB 试剂盒可能更准确地检测 HTLV-1 抗体，未来应该对 HTLV-2 的检测进行一些改进，特别是在高危人群中。
