[Adult T-cell leukemia virus--introduction--].

Attempts were made to find a putative virus causally related to ATL. A retrovirus was demonstrated in a T-cell line originating from leukemic cells of a patient with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) in and subsequent virological and serological studies suggested that the virus be etiologically related to ATL. This retrovirus was named adult T-cell leukemia virus (ATLV). This article reports the general properties of ATLV and the possible etiological relation of ATLV to ATL.