Isolation of Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus in Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

TLDR

Human T‑cell leukemia virus (HTLV), a type‑C retrovirus isolated from adult T‑cell leukemia/lymphoma patients, may also be implicated in AIDS and can be transmitted between individuals. The study sought to detect HTLV in AIDS patients, especially in the Caribbean, and to develop methods for long‑term T‑cell culture and antigen identification. HTLV was isolated from AIDS patients in the U.S.

Abstract

Several isolates of a human type-C retrovirus belonging to one group, known as human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV), have previously been obtained from patients with adult T-cell leukemia or lymphoma. The T-cell tropism of HTLV and its prevalence in the Caribbean basin prompted a search for it in patients with the epidemic T-cell immune deficiency disorder known as AIDS. Peripheral blood lymphocytes from one patient in the United States and two in France were cultured with T-cell growth factor (TCGF) an shown to express HTLV antigens. Virus from the U.S. patient was isolated and characterized and shown to be related to HTLV subgroup I. The virus was also transmitted into normal human T cells from umbilical cord blood of a newborn. Whether or not HTLV-I or other retroviruses of this family with T-cell tropism cause AIDS, it is possible that patients from whom the virus can be isolated can also transmit it to others. If the target cell of AIDS is the mature T cell as suspected, the methods used in these studies may prove useful for the long-term growth of these cells and for the identification of antigens specific for the etiological agent of AIDS.