Lydy S L, Conner M E, Marriott S J
Division of Molecular Virology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA.
Virology. 1998 Oct 10;250(1):60-6. doi: 10.1006/viro.1998.9378.
The presence of anti-Tax antibody responses in human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I)-infected individuals has been correlated with increased proviral load, increased risk of transmitting infection, and increased risk of developing tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (TSP/HAM). In this study, a rabbit model of HTLV-I infection was used to determine whether anti-Tax antibody responses could predict the presence of virus with the potential to replicate. Seven of 14 HTLV-I-infected rabbits developed anti-Tax antibody responses. The onset of Tax reactivity was variable, but once detected remained constant throughout the remainder of the 60-week course of the study. All anti-Tax antibody positive rabbits produced virus as measured by p19 expression upon coculture, while p19 was detected in only one of the Tax antibody negative animals. Thus the presence of an anti-Tax antibody response correlates with p19 expression following cocultivation, and may be a useful predictor of virus replication in HTLV-I infected individuals.
在人类I型嗜T细胞病毒（HTLV-I）感染个体中，抗Tax抗体反应的存在与前病毒载量增加、传播感染风险增加以及发展为热带痉挛性截瘫/HTLV-I相关脊髓病（TSP/HAM）的风险增加相关。在本研究中，使用HTLV-I感染的兔模型来确定抗Tax抗体反应是否可以预测具有复制潜力的病毒的存在。14只感染HTLV-I的兔子中有7只产生了抗Tax抗体反应。Tax反应性的出现是可变的，但一旦检测到，在研究的60周过程的其余时间内保持不变。通过共培养时的p19表达测量，所有抗Tax抗体阳性的兔子都产生了病毒，而在Tax抗体阴性的动物中仅检测到一只p19。因此，抗Tax抗体反应的存在与共培养后的p19表达相关，并且可能是HTLV-I感染个体中病毒复制的有用预测指标。
