Kubota R, Fujiyoshi T, Izumo S, Yashiki S, Maruyama I, Osame M, Sonoda S
Third Department of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
J Neuroimmunol. 1993 Feb;42(2):147-54. doi: 10.1016/0165-5728(93)90004-i.
To assess the immunopathological significance of the increased replication of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) in HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) we investigated the dynamics of HTLV-I proviral DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of HAM/TSP patients at different clinical stages. We compared the dynamics to those of asymptomatic HTLV-I carriers (AC). The estimation of the amount of HTLV-I proviral DNA was carried out by quantitative polymerase chain reaction of serially diluted DNA samples where it was feasible to titrate 0.04-80 copies per 100 PBMC. The proviral DNA quantified in six patients with HAM/TSP was 2-20 copies per 100 PBMC, while that in eight cases of AC was 0.04-8 copies per 100 PBMC. Thus, the amount of HTLV-I proviral DNA in HAM/TSP patients was 3-50 times as high as that of AC. When we followed up HAM/TSP patients for 1-3 years, the amount of HTLV-I proviral DNA fluctuated from 4 to 10-fold. These data suggest that the rate of HTLV-I replication increases in HAM/TSP and the amount of HTLV-I proviral DNA fluctuates in their clinical course. Fluctuation in the amount of HTLV-I proviral DNA may reflect dynamics of HTLV-I infected cell proliferation and immunological suppression in vivo in HAM/TSP patients.
为评估I型人类T细胞白血病病毒（HTLV-I）在HTLV-I相关脊髓病/热带痉挛性截瘫（HAM/TSP）中复制增加的免疫病理学意义，我们研究了不同临床阶段HAM/TSP患者外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）中HTLV-I前病毒DNA的动态变化。我们将这种动态变化与无症状HTLV-I携带者（AC）的进行了比较。通过对连续稀释的DNA样本进行定量聚合酶链反应来估计HTLV-I前病毒DNA的量，在此过程中每100个PBMC可滴定0.04 - 80个拷贝。在6例HAM/TSP患者中定量的前病毒DNA为每100个PBMC 2 - 20个拷贝，而在8例AC中为每100个PBMC 0.04 - 8个拷贝。因此，HAM/TSP患者中HTLV-I前病毒DNA的量是AC的3 - 50倍。当我们对HAM/TSP患者随访1 - 3年时，HTLV-I前病毒DNA的量波动了4至10倍。这些数据表明，HTLV-I在HAM/TSP中的复制率增加，且HTLV-I前病毒DNA的量在其临床过程中波动。HTLV-I前病毒DNA量的波动可能反映了HAM/TSP患者体内HTLV-I感染细胞增殖和免疫抑制的动态变化。
