Liu H F, Vandamme A M, Kazadi K, Carton H, Desmyter J, Goubau P
Rega Institute for Medical Research and University Hospitals, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1994 Sep;10(9):1135-42. doi: 10.1089/aid.1994.10.1135.
Our group previously reported a strong familial clustering of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) in Zaire, suggesting a familial transmission of the virus together with the presence of cofactors. In the present study among 84 relatives of 16 HTLV-I-positive or HAM/TSP index cases, we found that all 15 seropositive children had a seropositive mother and that all 15 children with a seropositive father but a seronegative mother were seronegative. Lymphocytes of 17 relatives from 2 families with a familial HTLV-I-associated neuropathy were tested in 2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays amplifying pol and tax/rex gene fragments. The 10 seropositive individuals were PCR positive for HTLV-I and the 7 seronegatives were negative in both PCR assays. The PCR results showed no evidence for a long lag period between infection with HTLV-I and seroconversion. The HTLV-I long terminal repeat (LTR) of these 10 individuals, related in the first to the fourth degree, was amplified and sequenced. Identical sequences were found within the families except for one woman infected with two variants, one being the familial strain and the other a mutated one with a single nucleotide substitution in the 755 sequenced nucleotides of the LTR region. The family strain and the mutant were both present in two samples taken 1 year apart. Together, the HTLV-I serology, PCR, and sequencing results point toward mother-to-child transmission as the main mode of HTLV-I infection in this population. Comparison of the LTR sequences of the two families with other HTLV-I strains from different geographical regions shows that the Zairean HTLV-I strains form a separate cluster.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
我们的研究小组之前报道过，在扎伊尔，人类嗜T淋巴细胞病毒I型相关脊髓病/热带痉挛性截瘫（HAM/TSP）存在强烈的家族聚集现象，这表明该病毒存在家族传播，同时也存在辅助因子。在本研究中，对16例HTLV-I阳性或HAM/TSP指数病例的84名亲属进行研究，我们发现所有15名血清阳性儿童的母亲均为血清阳性，而所有15名父亲血清阳性但母亲血清阴性的儿童均为血清阴性。对来自2个患有家族性HTLV-I相关神经病变家庭的17名亲属的淋巴细胞进行了2次聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测，以扩增pol和tax/rex基因片段。10名血清阳性个体的HTLV-I PCR检测呈阳性，7名血清阴性个体的两项PCR检测均为阴性。PCR结果显示，没有证据表明感染HTLV-I和血清转化之间存在长时间的延迟。对这10名一级至四级亲属的HTLV-I长末端重复序列（LTR）进行了扩增和测序。除一名感染了两种变体的女性外，家族成员中发现了相同的序列，其中一种是家族菌株，另一种是在LTR区域755个测序核苷酸中有一个单核苷酸替换的突变菌株。家族菌株和突变菌株在相隔1年采集的两份样本中均有出现。总之，HTLV-I血清学、PCR和测序结果表明，母婴传播是该人群中HTLV-I感染的主要方式。将这两个家庭的LTR序列与来自不同地理区域的其他HTLV-I菌株进行比较，结果显示扎伊尔HTLV-I菌株形成了一个单独的簇。（摘要截短至250字）
