HLA antigens and adult T-cell leukemia virus infection: a community-based study in the Goto Islands, Japan.

In order to study the genetical susceptibility to infection by adult T-cell leukemia virus (ATLV), which is considered to be a main causative agent of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), the HLA profile of persons with antibody against ATLV-associated antigen (anti-ATLA) was compared with that of antibody-negative persons in villages A and B of the Goto Islands, a typical ATL endemic area in Kyushu, Japan. The frequency (29%) of HLA-B7 in persons with anti-ATLA was significantly higher than that (8%) in anti-ATLA negatives (corrected X2 = 7.73, p less than 0.01) in one village while the frequency of HLA-B7 was around 10% in both positive and negative persons in the other village. These results do not support or deny the possibility of the existence of individuals who are genetically susceptible to ATLV infection in ATL endemic areas of Japan.