Immunoglobulin G antibodies binding to a synthetic peptide deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the env gene of HTLV I in patients with leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis, HLA sensitized persons and blood donors

Phylogeny-directed search for murine leukemia virus-like retroviruses in vertebrate genomes and in patients suffering from myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and prostate cancer

Gammaretrovirus-like sequences occur in most vertebrate genomes. Murine Leukemia Virus (MLV) like retroviruses (MLLVs) are a subset, which may be pathogenic and spread cross-species. Retroviruses highly similar to MLLVs (xenotropic murine retrovirus related virus (XMRV) and Human Mouse retrovirus-like RetroViruses (HMRVs)) reported from patients suffering from prostate cancer (PC) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) raise the possibility that also humans have been infected. Structurally intact, potentially infectious MLLVs occur in the genomes of some mammals, especially mouse. Mouse MLLVs contain three major groups. One, MERV G3, contained MLVs and XMRV/HMRV. Its presence in mouse DNA, and the abundance of xenotropic MLVs in biologicals, is a source of false positivity. Theoretically, XMRV/HMRV could be one of several MLLV transspecies infections. MLLV pathobiology and diversity indicate optimal strategies for investigating XMRV/HMRV in humans and raise ethical concerns. The alternatives that XMRV/HMRV may give a hard-to-detect “stealth” infection, or that XMRV/HMRV never reached humans, have to be considered.

Arthritis syndromes associated with human T cell lymphotropic virus type I infection

Arthritis syndromes occur associated with HTLV-I infection both in the presence and in the absence of clinical ATL, and polyarthritis may be the presenting manifestation of HTLV-I-associated ATL. In both clinical settings, HTLV-I-infected T cells home to affected joints, and tax-transgenic mouse studies have suggested a pathogenic role for the HTLV-I tax gene in inducing synovial cell proliferation in HAA. Understanding the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis-like arthritis syndromes that occur in the setting of HTLV-I infection should also provide insights into understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms of synovial cell proliferation in HTLV-I-negative rheumatoid arthritis.

Indications for the presence of antibodies cross-reactive with HTLV-I/II, but not HIV, in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome

Serological evidence is presented for the fact that patients with the myelodysplastic syndrome exhibit a statistically significant reactivity in confirmatory assays for antibodies to human T-lymphotropic viruses types I and II (HTLV-I/II). This antibody reactivity, evident by indirect immunofluorescence and Western blot, was not confined to HTLV core antigens but extended to native and recombinant envelope glycoproteins. The effect was also observed in cases of acute myeloic leukemia, albeit to a lesser degree. It was essentially absent from patients with chronic myeloic leukemia or lymphocytic leukemias and healthy or multitransfused controls. No antibodies to human immunodeficiency viruses types 1 or 2 were detected in any of the specimens. The investigated clinical population had no known risk factor for retroviral infection other than a history of multiple platelet transfusions, and none of the specimens was seropositive for HTLV-I or HTLV-II according to recommended criteria. The cause of this cross-reactivity remains to be determined.

Seroepidemiology of human retroviruses in Ogun State of Nigeria

We analyzed sera collected during 1987 and 1988 from 385 healthy business employees of both sexes, of Ogun state in Nigeria, for antibodies to the 3 human retroviruses HIV-1, HIV-2 and HTLV-I. No serum was HIV-1 positive, 1 was HIV-2 positive and 2 were HTLV-I positive. A few sera were false-positive in the antibody screening tests which preceded the confirmatory antibody tests. In the confirmatory tests, we found that in the HIV-1 Western blot test 1 serum reacted only with the HIV-1 gag protein p17, and 2 sera reacted only with the HIV-1 pol proteins p64, p53 and p31. None of these reactivities fulfill internationally accepted criteria for HIV-1 seropositivity. We conclude that HIV-1 was rare in the study population and that HIV-2 and HTLV-I are present at a low frequency. The false positive serological reactions observed are similar to those described previously from Africa and elsewhere. The findings emphasize the importance of routinely testing blood donations for antibodies to these retroviruses in Nigeria.

Autologous red cell agglutination assay for HIV-1 antibodies: simplified test with whole blood

An antibody detection procedure based on agglutination of autologous red cells has been developed for samples of whole blood. A nonagglutinating monoclonal antibody to human red blood cells conjugated to a synthetic peptide antigen (in this case residues 579 to 601 of the HIV-1 envelope precursor, Arg-Ile-Leu-Ala-Val-Glu-Arg-Tyr-Leu-Lys-Asp-Gln-Gln-Leu-Leu-Gly-Ile-Trp- Gly-Cys - Ser-Gly-Lys) permitted the detection of antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in 10 microliters of whole blood within 2 minutes. Agglutination was specifically inhibited by addition of synthetic peptide antigen but not by unrelated peptides. The frequency of false positive results was 0.1% with HIV-1 seronegative blood donors (n = 874). The false negative results were approximately 1% (n = 81). The autologous red cell agglutination test is potentially suitable for simple, rapid, qualitative screening for antibodies to a variety of antigens of medical and veterinary diagnostic significance.