In the search for anti-human T-lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I) compounds, we have evaluated several compounds for their inhibitory effects on HTLV-I replication in cell cultures. Among the test compounds, the fluoroquinolone derivative 7-(3,4-dehydro-4-phenyl-1-piperidinyl)-1,4-dihydro-6-fluoro-1-methyl-8- trifluoromethyl-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid (K-37) was found to be a potent and s...

To evaluate the relationships between human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) and hepatitis virus type B (HBV) infections, we compared both individual and geographical distributions of carriers of HTLV-I and HBV, and antibody positives to HBV in two ATL-endemic islands in Kyushu, Japan. The positive rates of antibodies to HTLV-I (anti-HTLV-I-Ab) in sera among healthy inhabitants older than 3...

IL-15Ralpha mRNA and protein levels are increased in human T cell lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I)-associated adult T cell leukemia. Previously, we demonstrated that IL-15Ralpha expression was activated by HTLV-I Tax, in part, through the action of NF-kappaB. However, there appeared to be additional motifs within the IL-15Ralpha promoter that were responsive to HTLV-I Tax. In this study, we d...

This review examines information on clinical, pathological and immunological events in the slowly progressive neurologic disorder associated with the human T lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I) termed HTLV-I associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). The role of cellular immune responses to HTLV-I in patients with HAM/TSP and how these responses may be associated with the path...

Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) causes chronic infection for which there is no cure or neutralising vaccine. HTLV-I has been clinically linked to the development of adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma (ATL), an aggressive blood cancer, and HAM/TSP, a progressive neurological and inflammatory disease. Infected individuals typically mount a large, persistently activated CD8(+) cytotoxic T-...

Human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) is a persistent virus that causes adult T cell leukemia and tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-I-associated myelopathy. Studies on rabbits have shown that viral proteins encoded by the open reading frames pX-I and pX-II are required for the establishment of the persistent infection. To examine the in vivo production of these proteins in humans, we have...

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), similar to interleukin-6 (IL-6), is a glycoprotein growth factor and differentiation regulator that has pleiotropic activity in several cellular systems. Recent reports of constitutive IL-6 production from spontaneously proliferating cells from human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV)-infected individuals led us to examine the expression of IL-6 and LIF during HTLV i...

Retroviral infection is associated with a number of pathologic abnormalities, including a variety of cancers, immunologic diseases, and neurologic disorders. Shortly after its discovery in 1980, human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) was found to be the etiologic agent of both adult T cell leukemia (ATL) and HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), a neurologic ...

Infection with human T-cell leukemia virus type-I (HTLV-1) is associated with a low incidence of morbidity in the form of adult T-cell leukemia as well as neurologic disease, including tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-I-associated myelopathy, suggesting that there are other important factors which determine outcome of infection. HTLV-I and the human herpesvirus, cytomegalovirus (HCMV), have bo...