MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES FOR HTLV-I INFECTION

人类嗜T淋巴细胞病毒I型（HTLV-I）是一种RNA病毒，被认为是多种器官以及外周血中肿瘤性和非肿瘤性疾病的病因。近年来，HTLV-I与HTLV-I相关疾病包括成人T细胞白血病/淋巴瘤（ATLL）和急性淋巴细胞白血病（ALL）之间的病理关系已被广泛研究。HAM/TSP，已澄清，通过使用基于分子生物学和免疫学的方法。然而，病毒在病变中的分布和亚细胞定位仍不清楚。因此，我们的目的是调查定位的病毒在外周血和病变的皮肤HTLV-Ⅰ感染患者使用原位杂交和PCR原位杂交技术。结果，HTLV-I mRNA在健康携带者和ATLL患者皮肤样品的冷冻切片中的淋巴样细胞或淋巴细胞中表达。ATLL亚型与信号频率之间可能无明显相关性。另一方面，有趣的是，通过PCR-ISH技术，HTLV-I感染病例的外分泌汗腺上皮中识别出HTLV-I Tax序列。据我们所知，目前还没有关于HTLV-T感染汗腺上皮的报道。这些发现对于考虑感染途径和由该病毒引起的非肿瘤性疾病的病因可能很重要。

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.