A recent serological and molecular survey of a semifree-ranging colony of mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) living in Gabon, central Africa, indicated that 6 of 102 animals, all males, were infected with simian T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (STLV-1). These animals naturally live in the same forest area as do human inhabitants (mostly Pygmies) who are infected by the recently described human T-ce...

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), a T-cell neoplasm caused by human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1), develops in the majority of cases in individuals who were infected with HTLV-1 as young children, by their mother during prolonged breastfeeding. We report the case of a Caucasian French man, whose parents were HTLV-1-seronegative and who developed ATLL after HTLV-1 sexual transmi...

The deltaretroviruses human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and human T cell lymphotropic virus type 2 (HTLV-2) have long been believed to differ from retroviruses in other genera by their mode of transmission. While other retroviruses were thought to primarily spread by producing cell-free particles that diffuse through extracellular fluids prior to binding to and infecting target ce...

5. Mariner JM, Lantz V, Waldmann TA, Azimi N. Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I Tax activates IL-15Ralpha gene expression through an NF kB site. J Immunol. 2001;166(4):2602-2609. 6. Chen J, Petrus M, Bryant BR, et al. Induction of the IL-9 gene by HTLV-I Tax stimulates the spontaneous proliferation of primary adult T-cell leukemia cells by a paracrine mechanism. Blood. 2008;111(10):5163-5172.