HTLV-I provirus in seronegative healthy blood donors

There have been reports of patients with lymphotropic retrovirus (HTLV-I)-associated diseases who did not have antibodies to structural proteins of the virus (eg, 1 Nishimura M Minglioli E McFarlein DE Jacobson S Demonstration of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) from an HTLV-I seronegative South Indian patient with chronic, progressive spastic paraparesis. Ann Neurol. 1993; 34: 867-870 Crossref PubMed Scopus (11) Google Scholar ). Most patients with mycosis fungoides, who are serologically negative have HTLV-I Tax sequence in their blood and skin-infiltrating lymphocytes. 2 Pancake BA Zucker-Franklin D Coutavas EE The cutaneous T cell lymphoma, mycosis fungoides, is a human T cell lymphotropic virus-associated disease. A study of 50 patients. J Clin Invest. 1995; 95: 545-554 Crossref Scopus (130) Google Scholar , 3 Khan ZM Sebenik M Zucker-Franklin D Localization of HTLV-I proviral sequences in skin biopsies of patients with mycosis fungoides by in-situ PCR. J Invest Dermatol. 1996; 106: 667-672 Crossref PubMed Scopus (38) Google Scholar Although patients with mycosis fungoides lack antibodies to the structural proteins of the virus, such as env and gag, more than 80% have antibodies to Tax protein when tested by western blot. 4 Pancake BA Wassef EH Zucker-Franklin D Demonstration of antibodies to human T-cell lymphotropic virus-I tax in patients with the cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, mycosis fungoides, who are seronegative for antibodies to the structural proteins of the virus. Blood. 1996; 88: 3004-3009 PubMed Google Scholar This condition of negative standard HTLV-I antibody tests, and positivity for Tax antibody and Tax sequence in lymphocytes, previously seen only in individuals with disease, was found in six of eight healthy relatives of our patients with mycosis fungoides tested to date.