Temporal dynamics of human T-lymphotropic virus type I tax mRNA and proviral DNA load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of human T-lymphotropic virus type I-associated myelopathy patients

Eugenio Ramirez, Luis Cartier, Mauricio Torres, Marcelo Barria

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is the etiologic agent of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). High HTLV-I provirus load and tax mRNA level have been suggested as predictors of disease progression in patients with HAM/TSP, but little is known about the temporal variation in patients. To clarify the role of high proviral and tax mRNA loads and their fluctuations in the pathogenesis of HAM/TSP, we measured proviral load and tax mRNA in serially collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from nine patients with HAM/TSP during a long-term follow-up, by use of real-time polymerase chain reaction using tax primers. The real-time PCR quantitation revealed a wide range of variation of proviral loads (7.82-97.13 copies per 100 PBMCs) and tax mRNA (0.20-245.30 copies) among HAM/TSP patients. Patients showed three different patterns of HTLV-I tax mRNA loads during the course of the disease. Tax mRNA load showed a separate evolution with respect to the disease. The dynamic patterns of proviral load and mRNA Tax expression suggest that only the permanent presence of a basal level of tax mRNA, rather than the tax mRNA load, is related to the development of HAM/TSP. To our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study to determine tax mRNA expression at different clinical stages.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)782-90
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Medical Virology
Volume79
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2007

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Adult
  • DNA, Viral
  • Female
  • Gene Products, tax
  • Human T-lymphotropic virus 1
  • Humans
  • Leukocytes, Mononuclear
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic
  • Proviruses
  • RNA, Messenger
  • RNA, Viral
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Time Factors
  • Viral Load

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