MOLECULAR AND IMMUNOLOGIC STUDIES OF HUMAN T CELL LEUKEMIA VIRUS TYPE II

我们实验室的研究集中在分子和 人T细胞嗜淋巴细胞病毒II型免疫学特性 使用从我们的患者人群中分离的病毒，我们已经证明 事实上有三种分子亚型的病毒， 现在被命名为HTLV-IIa、IIb和IIc。初步研究还表明， 这表明，这些可能是表型差异之间的三个 亚型具体地说，可以证明， 被认为在HTLV白血病发生中很重要的蛋白质， 亚型和目前的研究正在进行中，以确定这是否可能导致 亚型致病性的差异。在免疫学研究中， 已经集中于HTLV-II感染的体内向性，并研究了 感染是否产生受感染细胞的克隆扩增 人口。这些研究表明，所有三种病毒亚型都具有 对CD 8 + T淋巴细胞的偏好性。此外，感染 似乎导致了这些的扩张。研究正在进行中， 未来将确定病毒调节蛋白在这一过程中的作用。 的重要性，以及扩大作为一个早期事件， 病毒诱发的白血病

Studies from our laboratory have focused on the molecular and immunological properties of human T cell lymphotropic virus type II. Employing virus isolates from our patient population we have demonstrated that there are in fact three molecular subtypes of the virus which have now been designated HTLV-IIa, IIb and IIc. Preliminary studies have also suggested that these may be phenotypic differences between the three subtypes. Specifically it could be shown that the tax protein which is believed to be important in HTLV leukemogenesis differs between the subtypes and current studies are underway to determine if this may result in differences in subtype pathogenicity. In our immunological studies we have focused on the tropism of HTLV-II infection in vivo and investigated whether infection produces clonal expansion of the infected cell populations. These studies have shown that all three virus subtypes have a preferential tropism for CD8+ T lymphocytes. In addition the infection does appears to cause expansion of these. Studies underway and in the future will determine the role of virus regulatory proteins in this process, and the importance of expansion as an early event in virus-induced leukemogenesis.