Why the study?
What are the immunohistochemical characteristics of polymyositis in patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy compared to other polymyositis patients and controls?
What are the immunohistochemical characteristics of polymyositis in patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy compared to other polymyositis patients and controls?
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Polymyositis in patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy exhibits a distinct immune environment characterized by lower neural cell adhesion molecule expression and consistent MHC class II antigen expression.
The immunohistochemical characteristics of polymyositis in patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM) and HTLV-I carriers were studied. Infiltrating cells were predominantly T cells and were not different from in the control group. All specimens contained positively staining muscle fibers for MHC class I antigens, but class II antigens were also expressed in some muscle fibers in 1 patient with HTLV-I-negative polymyositis, 3 patients with HTLV-I-positive polymyositis, and all 5 HAM patients with polymyositis. Expression of the neural cell adhesion molecule was lowest in the HAM patients. These findings may suggest a different immune environment in polymyositis with HAM.
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Higuchi et al. (1993) studied this question.
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