The human type-C retrovirus, HTLV, in Blacks from the Caribbean region, and relationship to adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma.

Abstract

Type-C RNA tumor viruses have been implicated in the etiology of naturally occurring leukemias and lymphomas of animals. Human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV) is the first human virus of this class consistently identified in association with a specific type of human leukemia/lymphoma. The isolation of HTLV was made possible by the ability to grow mature T-cells in tissue culture usually with T-cell growth factor (TCGF). We now report a cluster of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma among Blacks from the Caribbean in which all eight cases are positive for HTLV virus and/or antibody. These patients have disease that appears indistinguishable from Japanese adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma which, as we have also reported, is associated with HTLV in over 90% of cases. The finding of HTLV antibodies in some of the normal population in the Caribbean and Japan, and the clustering of a specific form of T-cell leukemia/lymphoma in these virus-endemic areas, suggest that HTLV infection may be associated with the occurrence of a distinctive clinico-pathologic entity.

• Authors: W A Blattner, V S Kalyanaraman, M Robert-Guroff, T A Lister, D A Galton, P S Sarin, M H Crawford, D Catovsky, M Greaves, R C Gallo
• Journal: International journal of cancer (Int J Cancer) Vol. 30 Issue 3 Pg. 257-64 (Sep 15 1982) ISSN: 0020-7136 [Print] United States
• PMID: 6290401 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Antibodies, Viral
• Antigens, Viral

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Animals
• Antibodies, Viral (analysis)
• Antigens, Viral (analysis)
• Black People
• Cells, Cultured
• Female
• Humans
• Leukemia (immunology, pathology)
• Lymphoma (immunology, pathology)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Radioimmunoassay
• Retroviridae (immunology)
• T-Lymphocytes
• Tumor Virus Infections (immunology)
• West Indies