Zehender G, De Maddalena C, Gianotto M, Cavalli B, Santambrogio S, Orso M, Moroni M, Galli M
Clinica delle Malattie Infettive, Università di Milano, Milan, Italy.
AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1997 Sep 1;13(13):1141-6. doi: 10.1089/aid.1997.13.1141.
A high frequency of false-negative anti-HTLV-I/II ELISA results has been reported by several authors. To verify the possible underestimate of the prevalence of HTLV-II infection in subjects infected by HIV-1, we used the PCR to investigate the presence of HTLV DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected from a group of 67 HIV-1-positive anti-HTLV-I/II ELISA-negative individuals; the study population included 31 patients with HIV-1-related peripheral neuropathy (PN), 15 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), and 23 without PN or NHL. Two subjects had both PN and NHL. All of the patients who were positive at PCR were investigated for the presence of serum anti-HTLV-I/II antibodies by means of Western blot (WB). Eighteen (26.9%) of the 67 anti-HTLV-I/II ELISA-negative patients had HTLV DNA in their PBMCs and WB-detectable serum antibodies directed against one or more HTLV antigens. The individuals affected by predominantly sensory polyneuropathy (PSP) had a significantly higher prevalence of HTLV DNA than the others. All of the patients in whom HTLV-I/HTLV-II discrimination was successful had HTLV-II, with the exception of one patient who was infected by HTLV-I. The present study confirms the possibility of HTLV infection in the absence of ELISA-detectable serum anti-HTLV-I/II antibodies, especially in the particular setting of HIV-1-infected individuals. Moreover, the fact that the prevalence of HTLV DNA was significantly higher in the subjects affected by predominantly sensory polyneuropathy further supports the possibility of an association between HIV-1-related PSP and HTLV-II.
几位作者报告了抗HTLV-I/II ELISA结果出现高频率假阴性的情况。为了验证在感染HIV-1的个体中HTLV-II感染率可能被低估，我们使用聚合酶链反应（PCR）来研究从一组67例HIV-1阳性但抗HTLV-I/II ELISA阴性个体中采集的外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）中HTLV DNA的存在情况；研究人群包括31例患有HIV-1相关周围神经病变（PN）的患者、15例患有非霍奇金淋巴瘤（NHL）的患者以及23例无PN或NHL的患者。两名患者同时患有PN和NHL。所有PCR检测呈阳性的患者均通过蛋白质印迹法（WB）检测血清抗HTLV-I/II抗体的存在情况。67例抗HTLV-I/II ELISA阴性患者中有18例（26.9%）其PBMC中存在HTLV DNA，且WB检测到针对一种或多种HTLV抗原的血清抗体。以感觉性多发性神经病变（PSP）为主的个体中HTLV DNA的患病率显著高于其他个体。除1例感染HTLV-I的患者外，所有成功区分HTLV-I/HTLV-II的患者均感染HTLV-II。本研究证实了在ELISA检测不到血清抗HTLV-I/II抗体的情况下存在HTLV感染的可能性，尤其是在HIV-1感染个体的特定情况下。此外，以感觉性多发性神经病变为主的个体中HTLV DNA患病率显著更高这一事实进一步支持了HIV-1相关PSP与HTLV-II之间存在关联的可能性。
