Vital C, Vital A, Moynet D, Broustet A, de Mascarel A, Bloch B, Guillemain B
Department of Neuropathology, Bordeaux II University, France.
Cancer. 1993 Apr 1;71(7):2227-32. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19930401)71:7<2227::aid-cncr2820710711>3.0.co;2-u.
Cases of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) resulting from human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) have been observed mainly in the southern part of Japan. Recently, the authors performed a second examination of cutaneous, muscle, and nerve biopsy specimens from a French white woman who died of ATLL in 1979.
A 67-year-old white woman had a lymphoma diagnosed on a lymph node biopsy. She then had acute pains and a thickened skin on both legs. Blood examination showed a leukocyte count of 16,000/ml with 75% leukemia T-cells. Biopsies were performed on the antero-external surface of the right leg. She died after 2 years of illness.
Lymphomatous infiltrates of T-cell origin were seen in the dermis, between muscle fibers, and in a peripheral nerve. The recent ultrastructural examination of a few vacuoles located in the cytoplasm of certain lymphomatous cells showed rounded structures mixed with larger virus-like formations having a central nucleoid and spike material around the envelope. Polymerase chain reaction experiments performed on deparaffinized sections demonstrated the presence of a tax sequence homologous to that of HTLV-I. Other structural genes were not detected.
These results contrast with other ultrastructural studies in which HTLV-I was detected only after cultivation of leukemia cells from patients with ATLL. This case probably resulted from an HTLV-I variant.
I型人类T细胞白血病病毒（HTLV-I）导致的成人T细胞白血病/淋巴瘤（ATLL）病例主要在日本南部被观察到。最近，作者对一名1979年死于ATLL的法国白人女性的皮肤、肌肉和神经活检标本进行了二次检查。
一名67岁白人女性经淋巴结活检诊断为淋巴瘤。随后她双腿出现剧痛且皮肤增厚。血液检查显示白细胞计数为16,000/ml，其中75%为白血病T细胞。对其右下肢前外侧进行了活检。她患病2年后死亡。
在真皮、肌纤维之间以及一条周围神经中发现了T细胞来源的淋巴瘤浸润。最近对某些淋巴瘤细胞胞质中一些空泡的超微结构检查显示，有圆形结构与较大的病毒样结构混合存在，后者具有中央核仁和包膜周围的刺突物质。对脱蜡切片进行的聚合酶链反应实验证明存在与HTLV-I的tax序列同源的序列。未检测到其他结构基因。
这些结果与其他超微结构研究形成对比，在其他研究中，仅在对ATLL患者的白血病细胞进行培养后才检测到HTLV-I。该病例可能由一种HTLV-I变异体引起。
