MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES FOR HTLV-I INFECTION

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Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is an RNA virus which is considered to be etiologic factor of neoplastic and non-neoplastic disorders in several organs as well as peripheral blood. Recently, pathological relationship between HTLV-I and HTLV-I-related disorders including adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) and. HAM/TSP, have been clarified by using methods based on molecular biology and immunology. However, distribution and subcellular localization of the virus in lesions remain unclear. Therefore, we aim to investigate a localization of the virus in peripheral blood and the lesional skin from HTLV-I-infected patients by using of in situ hybridization and PCR-in situ hybridization techniques. As results, HTLV-I mRNA were expressed in lymphoid cells or lymphocytes in frozen sections of skin samples from healthy carrier and ATLL patients. There might be no significant correlation between subtype of ATLL and frequency of signals. On the other hand, interestingly, HTLV-I tax sequence was recognized in eccrine sweat gland epithelia in some HTLV-I infected cases by PCR-ISH technique. To the best of our knowledge, there is no report describing HTLV-T infection to sweat gland epithelia. The findings may be important to consider the route of infection and the etiology of non-neoplastic disorder caused by this virus.