부산대학교 도서관

To examine the immunomodulatory effects of HTLV infection, lymphocyte subset analysis was performed on patients infected with human T cell lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-I, n = 6) or -II (HTLV-II, n = 12) and on normal blood donors (n = 16). The percentages of total B lymphocytes (CD19), natural killer (NK) cells (CD16), T lymphocytes and their subsets (CD2, CD3, CD4, CD5, CD7, CD8), and IL-2R (CD25) were found to be within the range found in normal donors. However, the expression of CD8+ HLA-DR+ increased significantly in patients with HTLV-I or HTLV-H infection (14.1 ±3.9% and 9.7± 2.4% respectively; P < 0.01) when compared with controls (3.2 ± 1.1%). In addition, there was a significantly greater proportion of CD4+CD29+ T lymphocytes (29.3 ± 6.1% and 31.1 ± 9.0%; P < 0.05) with concomitant diminution of CD4+CD45RA+ T lymphocytes (8.3± 3.3% and 11.4 ± 1.5%; P < 0.01) in patients infected with HTLV-I or HTLV-II respectively, when compared with controls. The increased percentage of CD4+CD29+ subpopulations showed a direct correlation (rs = 0.86; P < 0.001) with HTLV-specific antibody production. No difference in the CD8 population coexpressing CD29 and S6FI (an epitope of LFA- 1) were observed in the HTLV-infected group when compared with normal donors and functional analysis exhibited minimal cytotoxicity against lectin labelled heterologous target cells. Thus, the shift in the suppressor/cytotoxic to helper/inducer `memory' CD4+ may be associated with immunoregulatory abnormalities often found in persons infected with HTLV-I or HTLV-II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]