[IgM anti-ATLA antibodies in HTLV-I healthy carriers and patients with adult T cell leukemia and HTLV-I associated myelopathy]

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation-related transmission of human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I)

We report here the first case report of bone marrow transplantation (BMT)-related transmission of human T lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I). Antibodies against HTLV-I-associated antigens (anti-HTLV-I) were detected in the serum from the BMT recipient 12 days post BMT. IgG against gag core proteins (anti-p19 and anti-p24) appeared earlier than IgM against gag and env proteins (anti-p19, anti-p24 and anti-gp46) during seroconversion. The data presented here differs from blood transfusion-related seroconversion. This phenomenon may be due to the engraftment of anti-HTLV-I producing cells from the donor.

Performance certification of gelatin particle agglutination assay for anti-HTLV-1 antibody: inconclusive positive results

In order to test the performance of particle agglutination assay (PA), 800 preselected PA-positive sera at 8 blood centers in the Kyushu area were tested in various assays. Most blood centers should improve their PA technique, since a third of the samples were PA-negative in our hands. A third of our PA high-titer sera were negative in indirect immunofluorescence and enzyme immunoassay, the results of which were consistent with each other. Western blots did not detect every positive serum. PA inhibition positivity was not consistent with PA titer. Most IgM antibody-positive sera also contained IgG antibody. PA should be used in combination with other methods before notifying the results to positive testees.