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Diversity of intrathecal antibody synthesis against HTLV-I and its relation to HTLV-I associated myelopathy

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Abstract

The humoral immune response against human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) in the central nervous system (CNS) compartment and in the blood was investigated by enzyme immunoassay using 16 synthetic peptides corresponding to HTLV-I core and envelope sequences. We evaluated paired samples of cerebrospinal fluid and serum from HTLV-I seropositive Japanese patients, classified as follows: HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP;n = 39), patients with spinal cord disease ascribed to either HAM/TSP or to some concomitant, HTLV-I-unrelated disease (possible HAM/TSP;n = 6) or carriers without any clinical signs of HAM/TSP (n = 15). HTLV-I-peptide-specific intrathecal antibody synthesis was found in 79% of HAM/TSP patients, but only in 20% of carriers without HAM/TSP. The group of carriers without HAM/TSP showed local synthesis for some peptides (on average 0.3 peptides per patient). In most HAM/TSP patients, however, there was a diverse intrathecal immune response to several HTLV-I synthetic peptides (on average against 3.6 peptides per HAM/TSP patient), most frequently againstgag p19 100–130,env gp21 458–488, andenv gp46 175–199 and 288–317. The intrathecal antibody synthesis against several HTLV-I determinants may represent a pathogenic immune response in HAM/TSP and is possibly related to the infiltration of virus-infected T-cells in the spinal cord.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Göttingen University, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, D-37075, Göttingen, Germany

    Bernd Kitze

  2. Center for Chronic Viral Diseases, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan

    Shuji Izumo

  3. Third Department of Internal Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan

    Koichiro Usuku, Shinji Ijichi & Mitsuhiro Osame

  4. Department of Virology, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan

    Shinji Yashiki, Toshinobu Fujiyoshi & Shunro Sonoda

  5. First Department of Internal Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Minoru Nakamura

  6. Fukuoka Red Cross Blood Center, Fukuoka, Japan

    Hiroshi Shiraki

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  1. Bernd Kitze
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  2. Koichiro Usuku
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  4. Minoru Nakamura
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  6. Shinji Ijichi
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  10. Mitsuhiro Osame
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Kitze, B., Usuku, K., Izumo, S. et al. Diversity of intrathecal antibody synthesis against HTLV-I and its relation to HTLV-I associated myelopathy. J Neurol 243, 393–400 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00868998

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00868998

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