No evidence for human T-cell leukemia virus type I or human T-cell leukemia virus type II infection in patients with multiple sclerosis.

The involvement of human T-cell leukemia viruses (HTLVs) in the pathogenesis of 18 Hungarian patients with multiple sclerosis was investigated. No antibody to HTLVs could be detected in any of the patients. Furthermore, using polymerase chain reaction under highly sensitive conditions, neither HTLV-I DNA nor HTLV-II DNA could be noted in peripheral blood lymphocytes of the patients. Our data do not support a causal association of HTLV-I or HTLV-II with multiple sclerosis.